Earle, I too am surround by high pine trees but my DirectTV disc was mounted on the roof so the LOS was fine -- and no, don't take this as an excuse to climb on your roof again!
I had DirectTV for ten years and switched to Comcast. How I regret that decision and in a few months my contract period will be up with Comcast, and I can go back to DirectTV.
Comcast customer service is a joke and an oxymoron. The other day I was on the phone for 46 minutes for them to figure our why my Xfinity on Demand was not working in the media room. This followed a similar time with another television which I ended up leaving unplugged for an hour or so and then it was back working. This is not customer service. When I finally get a human, the Comcast staff at the end of the phone are so heavily accented I can hardly understand them and they have difficulty with my English accent.
The one thing I really don't like is that when the system is unplugged, the program guide is eliminated and takes nearly 24 hours to get it all back again. Also, selecting a reminder for a program it just comes up on the screen. DirectTV actually changes the channel which I like.
Overall for me DirectTV is certainly worth the isolated instances the programming does down for bad weather.