Plex is the only solution that I have found that seamlessly plays video on my flatscreen through my mobile with the content being served from my laptop.
Before you ask - yes I used to be running xbmc, minidlna, etc. previously. No, they are nowhere as good (actually, to rephrase, the client-server model is not xbmc's focus, which is completely wrong IMHO).
So you can set up apache to host movies on a home network, then stream them with VLC? That sounds like a fantastic solution. Is there a solution for playing music this way on something resembling a stereo that supports playlists?
i just have an apache serving all my videos and a bookmark on any device browser. click and play. for android i use mx player.