Having a home media server is getting to be mainstream. With TV's now coming with ethernet connections it makes sense to have your home wired to share throughout the environment.
The setup is quite easy. You basically need at least one computer, a hub/switch, and TV. Buying or setting up a server is the next step up. Once you've got the basic components adding to your system is pretty simple.
For a hub/switch you should think about how many devices you'll be adding to the network. Having just four ethernet connections quickly becomes used and therefore I suggest you look for an eight port hub/switch. Nothing is stopping you from just plugging more four ports hub/switches into each other. This is referred to as daisy chaining. This is not ideal for many reasons, including wasting power. But if you have several hubs, you don't have to spend your cash if you'd rather not. I like Linksys and Netgear equipment personally. If you notice hubs and switches look the same on the outside. You can think of a switch as being a smart device. Internally it functions to manage your data being sent to and through it. Therefore you should look for a switch.
I have setup many Windows computers to be media servers. Starting with XP, sharing your files, music and videos has become easier for anyone to do so. I prefer using LINUX of course. Besides being a free operating system, making one into a server is quite simple with just a little reading. There are tons of faq's and how to's on the web to help you through the process.
Several years ago I decided I wanted a small standalone media server to connect to my home theatre system. Having a device that contained connections for optical audio, hdmi, usb, and analog connections was important to me. I found many devices on the market which would fit the requirements, but I settled upon the Patriot Box Office device. I found it on sale at Newegg. It didn't come with an internal hard drive included so I picked up a 500GB drive also. It was as simple as plug and play. I have since found other software (actually firmware) that I've flashed onto it to get more functionality from the device. I find I often just copy a movie to a usb flash drive and plug it in and watch movies directly from the usb drive. It's very convenient. I can access my laptops and pc's from the devices menu system thanks to it being plugged into my home network. It can access internet for internet radio stations, news, and other internet media sites as well.
The PBO device is super portable and I find I take it everywhere in my backpack along with my laptop. I think you'll love it as much as I do once you try it.
So, for under $100 you too can carry your home theatre system with you everywhere.
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