I just started full time, and I went with DirectTV. I bought a tripod and the adapter for the larger dish. I have 2 DRV's in the unit. One in the bedroom and one in the living room. I went with a HD unit in the basement. With this setup, I can watch the 2 DVRs on any TV including the one outside. I can also record to the living room and the bedroom DVR from outside. What's really cool is the IPhone app I have that allows me to record to my bedroom and/or living room DVR when I am out and about. The app is cool, you can look at the DirectTV programming and record with a couple of clicks. The set up was very easy, I was in one camp site and had to move to another. I used the compass on my IPhone to get the coordinates of where the satellite was pointed. I took the dish to the new site, pointed it with the compass on my phone, had my son monitor the signal strength on the outside TV and we had 98% signal in less than 5 minutes.
As far as local channels, you can probably catch them on the Antenna, but with DirectTV, you can get your local channels (where you live) wherever you are. When I go to Florida this winter, I will keep my TN local channel's to keep up with what's going on. I would anticipate that if you wanted to switch, you could simply call direct TV and have them repoint you to a local channel in the area you are at.
So far, very happy with DirectTV.