I'm pretty sure that I'm of the opinion that it comes down to the installer. I had DTV briefly just after I got married and we bought a house. It didn't seem to take a whole lot to make the picture go out, and sometimes it was out for hours. Where I'm at now, the guy seemed to know a bit more about what he was doing, and aside from a very brief few mins where a few of the HD channels went out (it was hailing outside, and the SD channels remained viewable), it's been perfect. When installed properly, there's no way I'd ever go back to cable, but knowing a little of what it's like to go through your experience, I can understand the frustration when it doesn't work as it should. Cable would probably be more appealing to me in that situation, too.