Yeah, it's basically a digital VCR, but you can also pause live TV ('cuz it's always recording), rewind, fast forward, slow motion, etc. Gets the TV schedules and syncronizes time over the modem. Just type in "Star Trek: Voyager" (or whatever) and it'll record every episode of that show automatically. You don't have to know what time it's on, or even what channel.
Even cooler - it learns what shows you like and don't like, and if it has spare room on the hard drive (which it usually does), it'll record shows that it thinks you might like.
-Nexus9