I asked myself this very same question before I bought mine, in the end I thought, sod it, I'm diving in and buying it, and I have to say, I'm glad I did, the features are endless, I am learning something new everyday, and with plugin after plugin there is no end...
Still though, I need to figure out how and what plugin to use to get my blu ray/dvd recorder drive to record my recordings from my hdd which I installed, to dvd, the player I've installed plays dvds though..
So I would say, if you have the cash spare, go for it, Remember, a Sky+hd box is nothing compared to the 8000