I will give a beginners review/answer. The more experienced
@duckboy33 can confirm or give even better info. I have had it about a month now.
No issues with recordings for me so far. You can skip forward through commercials or whatever like a normal dvr. It isn't as smooth as a DVR though, if you have a slower connection it can take a second or two to buffer/slight delay.
If you join mid game you can watch live or watch from beginning. If its over, you can watch from beginning or watch "highlights". Haven't checked the highlights out yet.
Regaurding recordings being cut off, I haven't had that happen but I have only used it about a month now. It auto records UK basketball/football. For St. Peters game(overtime) it recorded about 20 minutes before the game started and over an hour after it ended. So it recorded the march madness preshow and after show. For regular season games it was about 5-10 minute before the game started and 20-30 minutes after the game ended.