Netflix has changed the way people rent movies. When they started offering DVDs through the mail with no late fees, I thought it couldn’t get any simpler. Their addition of content streamed directly to your computer seemed like a nice feature, but it didn’t compare to the comfort of watching from your living room.

Recently, Netflix has been finding ways to connect home televisions to their streaming service. Newer game consoles, Blu-ray players, and televisions are beginning to come with this feature pre-installed. What if you don’t have any of these cutting-edge devices? There’s a solution for you too.

A company called Roku produces a small device which connects to your home network and the back of your TV. After some minimal setup (about two minutes, in my experience) you have access to all 50,000 titles in the Netflix streaming library. The Roku player supports both wired and wireless connection to the Internet. Composite video is the standard output connection, but HDMI is also available.

Kristen and I have had our Roku for about a week now, and we really enjoy it. With thousands options at our fingertips, we’ve been able to catch up on some television shows we’ve been waiting to see. Even though our Clearwire Internet connection is pretty slow and spotty, the Roku player is still able to serve up video with medium to medium-high quality.

I would easily choose a Roku and Netflix combination over a cable or satellite subscription with hundreds of channels of worthless programming. The value lies in the ability to watch what you want, when you want, without the distraction of advertisements.