for recording best with a twin tuner box or if single you may have to watch what you record depending on the tp been used,there is a difference in clone and originals.
usb can or cannot work on some makes as vu are fussy,dont use cheap crappy usb then should work i use integral as they flash when doing something.
bootloader and image are done by usb,do plenty of reading up as doing it wrong can brick boxes.sometimes pc might be needed for using or adding extras.
filezilla=ftp on pc.and others for adding bouquets and channel editing etc.