DVD rentals by mail pioneer Netflix is bringing a new service on the market in a try to reach its subscribers faster and easier. The service, called ‘Watch instantly,’ will allow subscribers that will buy a special device to have movies streamed directly on their TV sets.

The set-top box is made by the start-up company Roku and it seems to have all it takes to become a hit. It is said to offer both better sound and image than its competition, mainly Apple TV, and it will be priced much cheaper, at about $99. The streaming device is also pretty small and fits nicely and discreetly on top of TV sets. As far as installation is concerned, it is rather simple and either an Ethernet or a wireless connection can be used.

However wonderful the device may be, Netflix could still have some problems as far as content is concerned. The new service will grant access to only 10,000 titles of the company’s 100,000 movies and TV shows DVDs that are available via mail. What’s more, it seems that most of the films are pretty old, and thus not so appealing to the public.

Movies are streamed over the internet, and, as such, there is the possibility of getting bad image when connection speed drops under a certain rate. The company says that a connection of at least 1.5 megabits per second should provide a good watching experience.

Roku’s device will soon have more fearsome competition both inside and outside Netflix. Hewlett-Packard is expected to come on the market with a similar product in the near future, while LG could release a hybrid device that combines both a Blu-Ray DVD player and streaming capabilities during the second half of this year.