This only applies to the TiVo unit. The Hack One advantage TiVo has is the ability for user upgrade. This isn't supported and will void your warranty.
Recording is a programmatic process and it is very cumbersome to start a recording.
It has plenty of cool features if you want to stream your video over a network, but otherwise it isn't the convenient program that would be expected. Certainly cheaper than a TiVo. The TiVo is an incredibly handy device but we would like to see a massive price drop. Until then we are going this route ourselves and suggest that anybody with the spare hard drive space to do so as well.