Resolution is not as important as bit rate when it comes to HD quality. E* is putting 8 HD channels per transponder, D* is putting only 5 HD channels per transponder. So E* is compressing WAY more.
E* subs may say different, but they would be wrong. D* is compressing more than I would like to see them doing, I can see compression artifacts in D*'s HD picture. But E* gives only 62% as much bandwidth on average. You can't hide that. It is extremely apparent to my eye.
So people can talk all they want but if you highly over compress a digital image, you lose quality. It may be that they just don't see the degradation, but it is there. I can see it.
E* is able to over compress because they support 8PSK. This does not improve the image quality, but it does improve error correction and enables them to squeeze in more channels and still work under less ideal conditions, like in rain storms.
So D* subs need to celebrate that D* never implemented 8PSK support in their receivers, for we have better HD quality because of it.
I would rather watch 854x480p with high bandwidth than low bandwidth, over-compressed 1440x1080i. Compression artifacts like contour mapping, macroblocking, and mosquito noise have no business in an HD image.