I had the HDTV-in-a-Box (34") installed last Saturday, the 17th. I am a current Dish Network subscriber. I did it as a replacement for my main family room TV, which was an 8 year old Sony XBR 32". The 811 was added to my existing 501 in the family room, so I have the 501 going to the 34" S-video connection and the 811 to the DVI. Overall, I am very satisfied with both the 811 and 34" TV. Since I am not using the S-video or composite from the 811, I can't comment on any dark picture issues, but even the SD (from Dish) on the 811 through the DVI is slightly better than SD from the 501 on S-video. HD Dish channels are great and HD from OTA is excellent as well, since I am close enough to the transmitting towers to get high signal strength on all stations.
Although I eventually want to go to plasma for the family room, I made this decision for HDTV-in-a-Box as a way to try HDTV and wait a little longer for technology changes and price drops for plasma. So far I am not disappointed, and I can use the 34" in another room later or sell it (even if it has to be to another Dish network user) at half price and not lose much money.
I mention this last item (sell to Dish user) because I don't have another component with DVI-out to test whether the TV will only accept Dish DVI.