Stock for the biggest online DVD rental service Netflix rose after the company  unveiled on Tuesday its new $100 box-shaped "Netflix Player by Roku" which allows subscribers to transfer movies to their televisions.

According to Forbes.com, Netflix Inc.'s shares rose $1, or 3.2 percent, to $31.98 on Tuesday. In the past year, the stock has traded between $15.62 and $40.90.

Produced by Netflix partner Roku, a Saratoga, Calif.-based software and hardware company, the 5-inch-by-5-inch device has no hard drive, and simply streams more than 10,000 movies and TV shows from the Netflix library, through an ethernet or Wi-Fi connection. Users can fast-forward and rewind the video streams with a remote control, Netflix said. The box is currently available through Roku's site.

There are no extra charges or viewing restrictions and people can "watch as much as they want and as often as they want without paying more or impacting the number of DVDs they receive," Chief Executive Reed Hastings said in a statement. This means that even though the Netflix Player proves to be a hit, the fact that users can watch as many movies as they want for the same price, might become a challenge for Netflix to deal with later on.

There already are similar Internet-to-TV devices made by Apple Inc. and Vudu Inc. which cost $229 to $295, but Netflix is hoping that both new and current users will be attracted to its new set-top box for its relatively low cost and "simplicity."

"We think this is something that offers a big value at a low cost," Hastings added.

According to Roku VP of consumer devices Timothy Twerdahl, the unit has all it takes to become more than just a Netflix client, "It supports a lot of different codecs, a lot of DRMs, so it’s not limited to just playing movies from Netflix."

Along with the Roku device, two other Netflix players with added features like DVD or Blu-ray playback are expected to launch in the second half of 2008, from manufacturers including Korea's LG Electronics with whom Netflix partnered in January.