I had my Mits SR-HD5 (essentially the same unit) hooked up to my standard analong 4:3 TV for about a month until I took delivery on my HDTV. The connection was by S-Video at 480i. The result was a much clearer, higher resolution image than cable or regular satellite, comparable to DVD.
I don't believe the Hughes-designed boxes can output 480i on the component output, only the S-Video output. The desired output is selected via the SD/HD button on the remote.