This is the first time I’ve heard anyone say Kodi has a learning curve. I’m curious what you found difficult?

The mini pc is the most flexible. Batocera works really well and includes:

• Kodi to stream local media and can act as an Airplay receiver
• the ability to run Flatpaks
• a nice 10 ft UI
• emulation backends and moonlight game streaming
• the ability to pair Xbox and PlayStation controllers

Get a usb IR receiver like FLIRC or something similar with HDMI CEC to control everything via standard remote.