The only reason I didn't go the Apple TV route is because I have a HD621 and I would have needed to upgrade it to the UHD722 as there's only one HDMI output on the Apple TV. And because I had a spare PC sitting around doing nothing.
I did run an older NUC before but it didn't have the smoothest playback. (I think it was a gen 4 or 5 Nuc)

Thanks, Edd