First, I have to confess. TiVo is the most used consumer electronics device I have EVER purchased. And I've owned a lot of them!

Good info above on the hookup. To answer your other questions (all with a standalone TiVo):

You can record one program while watching another one at the same time, however, you'll need to use the tuner in the TiVo for the recording and the tuner in your TV for the live programming. (Although, you'll find yourself RARELY watching live TV -- except perhaps for the news -- once you get a TiVo.)

With the standalone TiVo, you can only pause the program that is being recorded. The DirecTV with TiVo (which I have) has two tuners so you CAN record one show and pause another one that you're watching.

You can watch a prerecorded TiVo program while you record another program with TiVo. This is what you end up doing most of the time when you have TiVo.