[DocG]

May have had a win with the wife in being able to buy some new hardware once I get the money together.

Plan is to run OpenELEC with this:

Intel NUC5I3RYH Core i3 NUC Barebone Kit
Intel 530 Series 120GB M.2 SATA SSD
Crucial 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz SODIMM

If you're only playing stuff from your server, and you don't happen to have any odd formats or need 4K HEVC, there are much cheaper setups that can do what you want. 120GB is overkill just for system and library. 4GB will never be used by OpenELEC either, it doesn't even need 2GB. Or are you looking to do other stuff with this system as well?

When doing driver updates from Intel, do you select "OS Independent" for NUCs? Are there also continual updates for OpenELEC? I've never used Linux for personal use, so it's a little bit of a learning curve.

You shouldn't have to worry about driver updates, and yes, there are updates to OpenELEC. It'll tell you when a new one is available, or you can just set it on "Auto" and forget about updates, it does it all for you. There's not much to learn in terms of OS to run OpenELEC.

With the new generation NUCs having AC wireless and my main PC has an AC NIC, I'm splashing on one of these (current modem/router also licks hairy crack):

ASUS DSL-AC68U Dual Band Wireless AC Modem Router

Nice. We're running two Chromeboxes over WiFi. An HP over N and one Asus over AC and I haven't encountered a single issue with either, not even the HP.

After doing some reading on here it looks like a few people recommend the Logitech K400R keyboard or the Logitech Harmony remote, I'm leaning towards the keyboard as the setup for the remote seems incredibly painful for the use it will actually get. Is there a better wireless/IR keyboard setup that anyone can recommend?

I'm not sure why so many people recommend the K400R, I didn't really like it. The K830 on the other hand. Particularly if you prefer a darker room, a backlit keyboard I'd consider an essential item. I mean, if you really do want a keyboard. I'm using a backlit Xbox One media remote in the bedroom with a Flirc dongle and it's been great. If you are going with a new NUC and prefer to use your TV remote, this soon to be released CEC adapter might be a great option too. I'm using CEC for basic and Yatse for advanced functionality on my main Kodi box, hardly even need Yatse, and it's just so simple. Why add yet another remote?

[levi.baker88]

I do plan on upgrading the TV and AVR to 4K capable items in the next couple of years and it may seem like complete overkill but I always like to have a little room to play with when it comes to hardware. The SSD is large but no one really makes small SSDs any more and I can always us it to store other movies/tv shows or the ability to install Windows if need be.

As nice as the K830 is, the price doesn't warrant the usage it will receive and I would still need a mouse.

[skylarking]

I recently bought a Raspberry PI-2, a small box to put it in and a power supply and as i already had a 4GB micro SD card, a HDMI cable, a USB hub, a BT dongle and PS3 BT/IR remote, the outlay was < $80.
It works a treat and will play everything i've thrown at it except VC-1 encoded BD rips, where it stutters heavily, but this can be simply solved by buying a VC-1 codec license from the RP foundation for a few british pounds.
I haven't set up DTV dongle as yet so can't comment on how it deinterlaces live ot recorded TV.
Admitedly the asthetics are not the best with cables out the back and side of the RPi but most solve such issues by sticking their RPi's behind the TV or AVR where it's out of sight.

The PS3 BT remote works very well and is much mcuh faster than controlling the RPi via CEC using my TV's remote since CEC seems s l o w on my Pioneer plasma TV.
The only issue i have had is if i drop the PS3 remove and the batteries fall out. In such instances i connect a wireless keyboard to the RPi to resync the BT remote.

My media is on USB HDD's plugged into the RPi and/or USB hub as i have not set up my server yet (it's on the to do list which oddly continues to grow).
The RPi is not connected to the net so clock display is always wrong and starts at 10:00 whenever i turn it on.
This clock issue could also be solved with a < $10 or by connecting it to the www.

I toyed with the idea of a NUC but it's way more expensive and as i don't have a 4K TV, true 4K AVR and other needed bits, i don't need NUC p o w e r (which likely wont be enough for true 4K with HD audio anyway).
By the time you get into 4K, who knows, the RPi-3C will be out and do native 4K or better for <$30 and likely only use 2W of power.

I'd suggest keeping your i7 as a file server, movie ripper and stores your media and fetches the media/movie meta data (which you should also store on the server locally).
Then use your network to serve the movie files to your RPi (which also pulls in the "local" meta data whenever you update your library.
The amount you'll save as compared to a NUC, you'll be able to buy two or more RPi-2's and have change for a nice whiskey (if that's your thing).

All this is irrelevant if you will be doing other things with your NUC not movie related...