Yeah, I used to be a big HTPC fan for that reason. And that would clearly work for HBO Go too. But every time I've had an HTPC (usually old Macbooks that I ended up selling eventually), I ran into interface issues - I just don't really like controlling TV from a mouse/keyboard if I can help it, and the media desktop apps all seem to be missing features; Plex Desktop is great for local media, and works fine from a remote, but you couldn't really do Netflix on it so I'd have to open the website and go all mouse/keyboard. XBMC is similar.

I plug my computer into the TV if I must, and control it using the Universal Remote mobile app, but for $45 a Roku can't be beat for the things it can do, which is almost everything streaming (and even a lot of local DLNA playback - my old Roku 2 XS handles 1080p MKVs served by my router just fine, and Plex works great on it too). Since the Chromecast can actually cast Chrome tabs wirelessly (and mirror some Android phones, though not my slightly older model), that covers a lot too; I haven't tested it with "no-device" Hulu shows yet, but I should...

Your router is serving media? What kind do you have?

Asus N113u I think? It's one of the high end Asus routers, but without AC support. Came recommended by LifeHacker. Comes with a DLNA server out of the box for attached external hard drives, and you can also easily add your own optware packages; I have a Transmission client as well for downloading torrents. Lots of other options as well.

I should check if dd-wrt does that--it might be what pushes me over to installing it on my router. If I could pick one thing on my network to serve consistently, I wouldn't have to worry about exceeding any given storage device's capacity and spread my library across them.

I swear to dog this wall doesn't have a single stud in it

If you can't find a stud, there's a more brute force option - [link] Those suckers will hold anything.

I come across enough shows on Hulu Plus that have the "oh so sad we can only stream this on a computer not a device" flag

Hmm. I should check the shows I would be watching (Arrow, SHIELD, the Flash, possibly Gotham, possibly Constantine [oh Jesus, it's all comic book shows I AM SO PREDICTABLE]) and see if they have that flag. That would be annoying.

I have a Roku streaming stick and a chromecast. I like them for different reasons. I had a Roku 2 but it wouldn't recognize the remote or the app so I don't the stick. The stick has Amazon Prime and the chromecast doesnt. You can cast from Amazon ' website but I found the audio seemed a little out of synch.

If you can't find a stud, there's a more brute force option - [link]. Those suckers will hold anything.

The description specifically says "Do not use for mounting televisions". You really need studs for heavy items like that.

Yiu can definitely install minidlna (the embedded DLNA clients used by Linux routers) on DD-WRT. I'm not sure how easy it would be to set it up to stream media from media that isn't physically connected, though. You could definitely set it up to do so by simply mounting the network drives and adding the filders, but I am not sure how well Minidlna scales to large media collections.

Have you considered dropping DLNA entirely and moving to a plex server? It seems likely to me that you might have a computer you could use for that, and then streaming from anywhere simply requires that you mount them all on the server computer and have lots of plex clients. And Plex clients are available on so much, now: even my new Vizio smart TV has a client. I have always had better luck with Plex, I just don't have an always-on PC in my house.

Full disclosure: I bought this router eventually solely because it has a lot of the power or DD-WRT without the hassles. DD was a bit of a nightmare. The Asus firmware is actually based on DD-WRT but with nicer interface and support.