Mark,

As to HDD, that's not an issue I have, as the storage is on a different server that the media center would be connected to (1Gbps). Which is also why I am ok with the lack of ESATA ports on the Studio Hybrid.

As to DVB and noise, yes, you're right: expandability is the big issue I have here, actually. A "real" case, even a "desktop" one(there are many nice ones), is much more expandable and allows to assembrle a completely fanless PC.

If you say that Digital Tuner via USB works well, then that's one less problem. But what about SAT decoders? I am not aware of any USB one that also is compatible with pay per view cards that Sky uses here. Not that I have searched much, though.