It's the public beta test program DirecTV runs, mostly in concert with DBSTalk but also here. There should be some threads up above in this forum about them. Basicaly, if you are willing to test and willing to take the chance your receiver may become a non functioning brick, then you can download the test versions when they are available. Otherwise you can let us do the testing work and you'll get the results in a national release to everyone every month or two.
You can't do the "hold for 3 sec" commands easily with the universal remotes as it sends a different signal. It should work with the original remote. If you go to remotecentral I believe they have codes that you can use for the hold for 3 sec functions.
As for season passes, no idea. Record twice works every time. However it only works on shows that are actual series. For a test, pull up the guide to Court TV or something and find Cops and hit record twice. You should see the icon for a series link and it should appear in your prioritizer. Note that he To Do list will only list the episode you set the series link on, the rest of the episodes will fill in within the next few hours (assuming they qualify based on your settings...first run only, repeats, etc.)
