I've had a good chat to a few people, and everyone has their opinions :)
I've been looking at the following options for effectively the "core" of our new home theatre setup. Bear in mind, the main "screen" will be a projector, so there's no SmartTV options for us here. Ease of use it a big thing, as my technically-challenged wife will need to be able to easily navigate with a relatively simple controller.
Either:
Option 1: Raspberry Pi 3 running OSMC or similar, using Kodi for streaming local content and adding whatever channels I can, and then using a Chromecast 2 for streaming services either from mobile apps, or chrome browser (for SkyGO etc)
Benefits(?): Flexibility of it being a RBP and being able to do quite a lot.
Issues I can already see: Regularly switching between the RBP and Chromecast will be a PITA, especially if I can't get the HDMI switcher to do it automagically (which I'm unlikely to, since I don't want to spend too much!) No native apps for a lot of things
Option 2: An android-based streaming box like an Amazon Fire (I realise it's a little more closed than straight android, but you can still side-load, right?) or even something like this from Gearbe$t
Benefits(?): Native apps for pretty much everything we want: SkyGO, Netflix, Hulu, NZ TV OD apps, Plex, Kodi etc. Basically everything can run from a single device, without the need to chop between the Chromecast (will still keep it for ad-hoc sharing)
Issues: Grunt & flexibility, sure Android is very capable in most applications, but would the RBP be better?
Other elements to consider: There will be a NAS for all local content to stream from (potentially with Plex running, but maybe just as a share to Kodi.) For either setup there will be a wireless remote, probably one of those ones with the keyboard and trackpad. I currently have a Roku 3 (again, a bit of a walled garden, no SkyGO for e.g.) and PS4 (great device, but limited availability of apps)
Review, critique, opinion and feedback are all invited and appreciated. There may be other questions relating to the setup in other appropriate sub-fora.
Cheers, jeffois