Are you watching something that you're streaming from a local source, i.e. a computer in another room, or are you asking about streaming something remotely in Kodi/XBMC/SPMC? Because as a longtime fan of XBMC (from waaaay back on the original Xbox), I can tell you: sometimes it's just the source, man. A buncha bootlegs running off a buncha servers in China, yes, it's a wonderful thing, but about half the time, those sources have issues and there's just nothing you can do about it. Frustrating, I know, especially when you're all sat down and ready to watch something and it just won't play, and your wife just pats you condescendingly on the hand and says "It's okay, sweetie, you tried."
I picked up the GameStop "Red Samurai" Bluetooth controller I've seen people recommend, and so far I really like it, as far as controllers go: it's very, very comfortable in my hands (I have small hands, so take that into consideration), and button presses feel good, a bit mushier than a Dual Shock, more like a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive pad. Feels good with most retro games I've tried, though I can't really tell if it's suffering the same "Bluetooth slowdown" that the stock GameStick pad seems to cause. But my couch is too far from my tv, and my toddler would trip over a long cord, so it's Bluetooth or bust for me
Very basic Home screen navigation with it is functional, in that I can move in four directions, and click forward and back, but that's about it. And in half the emulators I've tried, Back button functionality just stops, making me get up and plug in a mouse again just to navigate menus. So I guess I still haven't found the perfect all-in-one control device, but for $8 I can't really complain.