a, didn't read the whole thread (sorry)
b, I use the following for streaming (found the windows media server couldn't index my movies and mp3's) xbmc < class bit of software. Can stream from that to anything that supports streaming protocol, I did find that anything from my wifi couldn't connect to the stream server. It's due to it not broadcasting/multicasting properly even though the physical wire and wifi are on the same subnet it seems that the router blocks it. (Cisco from UPC) I had an assus router lying around so used that on the inside and upgraded the firmware to version 3.0 (experimental) that forwarded the packets properly! to see if you have any issues with that part you can plug both the client and server in on the wired network, if that works you know it's due to the wifi side of the router.
If you got a htc desire (android) then you cna download the xbmc remote control and control everything via the desire like a remote (handy and pretty geeky)
if you need any hands on help pop me a PM.
cheers
a