I think a factor why we may all be viewing this subject a little differently is because of Quantity, I think my perspective is scewed because I only do a few projects a year, When your only doing a dozen higher end projects a year the opportunity for failure is much less than if your doing 100 installs a year.

That being said my experience is like Mac's very few issues over the years and when there has been an issue it has been a concrete issue, ( a bad cable, balun, receiver etc)

I read the frustration that many others share and the long complicated troubleshooting processes used, I take notes and do my very best to avoid situations that look similar to where others have had issues