Out of curiosity, explain the workflow to me for this under your setup. I want clicks and how you do device input.
Sure thing, with the caveat:
I wasn't trying to say what works for me works best for everyone, and I wasn't really advocating my method. Just wanted to point out a singular advantage for a PC based setup.
I do it all via Kodi because I like having everything accessible in Kodi via a remote-my entire media library (recorded content and disk rips), my entire collection of retrogames launched via preconfigured emulators, and Steam Big Picture. Well that and building/configuring HTPCs is probably my primary hobby (like board games for you if I may). I get not everyone wants all that or the time commitment to get there, I probably spent 10 hours this year just configuring Kodi settings alone (but now it upscales better than a Oppo player thanks to that time).
Now, to your questions (based on my OTA setup with a NextPVR backend and Kodi frontends):
1) Start a season pass for a new show
I find the show I want to record in the TV guide of the Kodi Live TV menu (all done via a remote in a ten foot interface), I hit a certain (menu) button on my Harmony remote that is pretty much the equivelent of a right click, and then I select 'add timer' option in the contextual menu that pops up. Then I can chose the 'Repeating (Guide)' option in the next menu that pops up via the remote's select button and I am done. For one off recording, that is done via a single red button press on the remote either in the guide or while watching the channel.
Once shows are recorded a program called Comskip automatically rips out the commercials (based on all kinds of machine learning logic) and then transfers the fixed up copy to my media server where it is added to the massive media library I already have in Kodi along with the correct fanart and episode information. Therefore as shows record they are added to my big library seamlessly (so if season 1 is Blu Ray rips and a show is on season 4 right now as recording come they go in the same TV folder as the season 1 rips), and there is no artificial division between "recorded shows" and "shows I ripped that are just in Plex" for example.
2) Start watching a recorded show, and turn up the volume on your TV
That is all handled by a Harmony remote, which I would recommend no matter your source for OTA. With a Harmony remote you program in a macro for each activity button where each button on the remote in that activity can control different devices when that button is pressed.
So if I hit the "Kodi" activity button the Harmony automatically changes the inputs to my Kodi box (turning on the TV and receiver if needed) and then all the buttons related to navigating the interface (up, down, enter, record, etc.) on the remote give the correct commands to Kodi, while the volume and mute buttons directly control my AV receiver. The Kodi commands are received via a FLIRC IR dongle that I have programmed.
To directly answer your question, I hit the macro button and Kodi comes on. I find the TV show in a highly skinned beautiful ten foot interface that is best of class (and searchable by name, actor, year, genre, etc.) and I select the TV show and play it (much like Netflix's interface but prettier). The watched status for each show (like did I watch it, or how far I got into it Netflix style) is saved in a MySQL database synced across my house so I can start a show in the livingroom and finish it in the kitchen. One of the Kodi menu options allows me to easily see new shows added to the library recently, which is where I usually start.
Honestly I am kinda wondering how you manage this sort of thing without a Harmony quite frankly, Tivo or not. My family can't handle the whole "this remote does this" mental gymnastics so I have bought Harmonies (and programmed them) for every single member of my family (even the ones without a Kodi setup). Best money and time I ever spent.
I don't really. I am a digital hoarder with over 50TBs of storage space. Deleting content makes me feel icky inside so I save everything and add more HDs to the array when I need them. Without digital information I would be one of those crazy people living in a pile of newspapers because I have a hoarder's instinct.
But the same contextual menu that allows me to set up a repeating recording "timer" has a "Delete" option I have never used so I will guess that is the way to do it. Or I could use a media manager program to automatically delete a part of my library if its untouched for a certain amount of time (just typing that kinda hurt).
Hope I sufficiently answered your questions.