I have an LG soundbar and sub-woofer which connects via optical (the TV speakers aren't bad, but I need my BOOM! though Bad Cat is on a mission to disembowel the woofer, so I have to remember to cover the hole). The remote is a magic remote so it can apparently control other things, it mostly works on the old Samsung Blu-Ray we have. There's also a phone app so you can use your phone as a remote control (so if my wife and her mad friends start singing along to Glee or some nonsense, I can mute the TV from my sanctuary of solitude, though this can cause marital strife). Also, as the remote has a pointer (it works like a Wii-style controller), you can zip it back and forth across the screen to confuse and exhaust small felids who otherwise might become tempted to annoy you.
I think it has about a thousand HDMI sockets, USB, component, etc. Indeed, it should record normal TV to any available storage, though as I don't have an aerial, I've not tried it.
Everything connects via wifi, never dropped a frame when streaming, and the UI isn't actively awful.