I use a simple satellite dish on a ground mount to receive DirecTv (SD and HD. It is not hard once you learn to do it IF you have an easy to find line of site to the satellites. Any dish - automatic or manual - will not work if there are leaves or other obstructions in between the dish and where the satellites are.
I'd be interested to hear from users of automatic dishes how often they have line of site issues. For me, it is often an issue in East Texas or much of Louisiana and in the Smokies - but in the West is is usually not a problem.