I need advice on setting up a home media server, given the equipment I have available to me.

I have an Ubuntu Linux server that I use to download movies and mp3s - this machine is hooked up to two 2TB usb external hard drives. This Linux machine is hooked up via a vga connection to our hdtv. I use these external drives to store all my movies and music. I have an older macbook pro running snow leopard, with iTunes. My wife and I also just got iPads.

I'd like to continue to download movies and music on the Linux machine and store them on the two external hard drives. I'd like to be able to access my media files from computers on my home wifi network and be able to play them, including the iPads. I'd also like to be able to access and play my media files from a computer connected to my hdtv - either the Linux machine via vga, my macbook pro via hdmi, or another device (apple tv?) if we have to buy one. One other thing I'd like to do is - be able to watch NetFlix, Hulu and Youtube on a computer connected to my hdtv. Right now I'm not able to do this on my Linux box via vga, as Netflix does not work on Linux.

Any suggestions on the best way to do this would be appreciated. We're willing to spend some money to set this up, but we don't have a lot of money to spend on this. Thanks