DirecTV and Dish have similar programming available, with the exception of several exclusve sports packages that DirecTV has.
However, the receivers are quite a bit different, so you'll want to make sure you are very specific about what you want. 75% of our AT&T-sourced orders are totally wrong, because the AT&T folks have no idea how to sell/setup Dish orders, so the more you know, the better.
Dish will lease you equipment that supports 4 independent TVs. They will do this via a pair of receivers that each has 2 independent sets of outputs. "TV1" will have the receiver next to it, and use an IR remote, while "TV2" will be connected via coax, and will use an RF remote.
The HD-DVR is the ViP722. It has 2 sat tuners and an OTA ATSC tuner, so if you have an OTA antenna, it can be connected to the 722 and the OTA programming will appear in the guide. The OTA tuner can only be directly accessed by the TV1, so TV2 can't watch something live on the OTA tuner. Both TVs share the recorded programs, though, including recordings made from the OTA tuner. The 2 satellite tuners are shared between the 2 TVs, which is different from DirecTV, where each TV has it's own dedicated pair of tuners.
Finally, on an HD receiver or DVR, only the TV1 can be in HD, as HD cannot be sent over coax to the TV2. TV2 content, if originally HD, is down-converted to SD as it is sent.
As I mentioned, Dish will lease you equipment for up to 4 TVs, with a max of 1 DVR, with no up-front lease fees. So, you could get a ViP722 2-room HD-DVR and a ViP222 2-room HD receiver (in both cases, TV2 in SD only). You can pay an up-front lease fee to upgrade the 222 to a second 722, giving all 4 TVs DVR capabilities. But here is where things are different: Dish will not lease you equipment beyond that which supports 4 TVs, nor will they pay for installation or equipment to connect additional receivers. You can have up to 12 receivers on your account, but any beyond the leased receivers must be purchased from a retailer at full price, and the customer bears all the costs to get a signal to those owned receivers, meaning any dish/LNB/switches needed. That being the case, relatively few Dish customers go beyond 4 TVs.
Last, Dish's pricing is different in a few ways. With DirecTV, if you have 4 TVs, you have 4 receivers, and pay $5 for each one beyond the first, to mirror your programming. With Dish, most configurations for 4 TVs means only 2 receivers. As long as those receivers are connected to a phone line (or for HD receivers, to the Internet), the receiver is treated like a single-room receiver, and you save $5/month per receiver.
Dish does charge a DVR fee per DVR, not per account like DirecTV. HD receivers beyond the first one cost $7/month, SD $5/month. HD equipment without HD programming costs a $7 "HD equipment" fee, only $3/month less than the base HD package at $10/month. Leased equipment can only be upgraded once per year; otherwise, you have to purchase any upgrades at retail.
Standard-Definition Receivers
311 1 tuner, 1 room
322* 2 tuner, 2 room
522/625* 2 tuner, 2 room DVR
High-Definition Receivers†
ViP 211 1 tuner, 1 room
ViP 222* 2 tuner, 2 room
ViP 612* 2 tuner, 1 room HD DVR
ViP 622/722* 2 tuner, 2 room HD DVR
*Dual-tuner receivers require constant phone line or Internet connection to avoid $5/month 2nd room fee.
