q1 - yes it instantly records it and stops automatically at the end of it.
q2 - i think this is dependent on which country and epg you are using. In the uk the freeview epg has 7 days on it and when you press series link it does record all of those in the series after the intial 7 days. it somehow does that without you doing anything.
using my german feed which is via the dvb-s feed it is not so clever and doesn't allow for this - it is a lot more simple.
Hopefully someone with local knowledge can help some more