I recently concluded that my Comcast subscription television service is a waste of my money. I enjoy watching an occasional situation comedy and some science fiction shows, and I love the Law & Order franchise, but I rarely watch any of that stuff due to time constraints. What I primarily watch on TV is CNN and other news channels while I am eating. I rarely have time to just sit and watch a TV show due to my excessively busy life. Unfortunately, the quality of cable TV news has gone down hill. The news reports I see these days on CNN and MSNBC are mostly fluff. Fox News is a sad joke, so I figured, it made no sense for me to pay for news content when I can get more interesting news from various online sources.

With that in mind, I began to look at Internet-based streaming TV offerings as an alternative to paid cable TV. Both Verizon and Comcast charge way too much for their subscription TV service for the little bit of TV I watch, so even if FIOS TV was an option in my area, which it is not, I would still not be able to derive much benefit from it for the money Verizon charges.

This is an interesting time with regard to television. I firmly believe that we are seeing the start of a slow, but steady change in the subscription TV industry where major subscription TV providers, such as Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon, will lose a lot of their business due to their inability to address frustration on the part of consumers. More and more people are canceling their cable TV subscriptions and making the same transition I am making. The days of large monolithic companies controlling the content we see on subscription TV are nearing an end. I say this even as Comcast is in the process of merging with NBC.

Google and Logitech are collaborating on a set-top box to replace cable TV service. Google recently hit a bit of a roadblock with its software development, but I am sure that when Google finishes its software, Logitech will come out with a compelling streaming video product, which will make major inroads into the subscription TV business. Both Sony and Microsoft are also offering support for streaming video via Hulu Plus and Netflix to enhance the capabilities of the PS 3 and Xbox 360, so those of you who have one of those game consoles can watch high definition TV on demand without paying the exorbitant rates that Comcast and Verizon charge.

The problem with the TV subscription giants is that you can't pick and chose which channels you want. As a result, we consumers are forced to pay for significantly more subscription TV service than we need or want. For example, I have little interest in professional football and most other sports, yet I am forced to pay for many sports channels that I rarely if ever watch. The only professional sport I really enjoy watching on TV are Phillies games. I also enjoy watching the Temple Owls basketball games, but I can see many of them via streaming video for free. I can do without ESPN, the Golf Channel, all of the religion channels, and many of the other channels that Comcast shoves at me.

A company called Roku has come out with a good alternative to watch popular TV shows without paying an arm and a leg to do it. Roku makes a line of three set-top boxes that allows channels you want to be streamed directly over the Internet to your television. Roku says you do not even need a computer to use a Roku box, but you do need a home network. That is mostly true. You do, however, need a computer to set up certain optional features, such as allowing the Roku box to see your Facebook photos, but you do not need the computer to use the Roku box once you set it up to do what you want.

Roku markets three set-top boxes, the HD, XD, and XD|S. These three boxes all essentially do the same thing, but the XD has additional features over the HD, and the XD|S has a few more features over the XD model. I bought the XD|S box which supports television sets that can display high definition video in 1080p format and allows USB media to be plugged into it, plus it has a better remote control unit. However, the feature I really bought it for is its support for component video (which the HD and XD models lack). All three boxes work via your wireless or wired network, but the XD|S works via the faster Wireless-N Wi-Fi network routers, such as Apple's AirPort Extreme, and it supports connections to your TV via component video, optical cable, standard video RCA ports, and HDMI. The HD box costs $60; the XD, $80; and the XD|S, $100

To quote Roku, "Roku box is a little device that allows you to instantly stream tons of entertainment on your TV. Watch movies and TV shows from Netflix, Hulu Plus, or Amazon Video on Demand, catch the latest ballgame, and more.-- it's all available whenever you want it."

I also signed up for a subscription on Hulu Plus, which costs $7.99 per month and offers unlimited access to thousands of dramas, horror shows, game shows, situation comedies, science fiction, documentaries, animated shows, and even some adult content. For example, I can watch every episode of Carl Sagan's Cosmos and every episode ever produced of Law & Order SVU. I can also watch many current shows such as the Family Guy and Glee. Thanks to an iPad app, I can also watch the same Hulu Plus content on my iPad. What I can't do is watch new episodes of those shows when they originally air; I have to wait a few days.

A few days after I began using my Roku box, I returned the two set top boxes I rented from Comcast. I also canceled my television service with Comcast. I am now using my Roku box to get my fix of various TV shows. For example, I like Saturday Night Live, but for me, the "live" part is gone. The Roku box also offers some free streaming video news channels, but as of now, their options for "hot off the presses" news are very limited. For live TV such as local news, I bought an indoor HD antenna that lets me get better quality HD signals over the air than Comcast provides over their cable because Comcast compresses their video content in order to squeeze it all over their wired network. The HD antenna I bought cost me roughly $50 at Best Buy and it sits on top of my stereo cabinet. So between the over the air broadcast TV I get via my antenna and the streaming video content I get via my Roku box, I have enough TV content to last me for several years.

The Roku box is fairly small and unobtrusive. It comes with a remote control unit that is small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, a power cable and composite video cables to connect the box to a TV via its standard definition RCA ports. For my living room TV, I purchased an HDMI cable to take advantage of high definition material for $5 from eCost.com. The older HD TV in my bedroom lacks an HDMI port so I had to buy a special component video cable that Roku makes for an additional $14 (including shipping and handling). The Roku box also comes with a Getting Started Guide, 30-day money back guarantee, and a one year warranty. All three Roku box models support wired and wireless home networks. I am using the wireless option. You can see the Quick Start Guide online at www.roku.com/Libraries/Roku_Player_Documents/XDS-QSG.sflb.ashx .

In addition to Hulu Plus, the Roku box offers a variety of other channels. Movie fans can subscribe to Netflix for an additional fee and watch numerous high definition movies and TV shows at their convenience for a very low monthly subscription fee. For hockey fans, there is an NHL channel. Being as though I am a fan of the Phillies, I will subscribe to the MLB channel, but not until the 2011 season begins. The MLB.com channel offers live and on-demand games. As of now, one can watch post season 2010 games on the MLB channel for free. You can also purchase movies and some television shows via Amazon's video on demand service.

For example, I rented the HD version of "A Christmas Story" from Amazon Video on Demand. The movie was quickly streamed to my Roku box and it played flawlessly. I can also watch the movie as many times as I want in 48 hours for the $3.99 rental fee. There are also many free channels on a variety of subjects. I also signed up for the 30-day free trial that Netflix offers and I used my Roku box to watch a Doctor Who show in high definition.

The Roku box also offers live NASA news coverage, BBC podcasts, and even a steady stream of CNN podcasts and the same video content that I can get via CNN's mobile iOS app. The Roku box has several podcast channels and at least three channels where one can watch movies from India, and one channel I found with Malaysian movies. You can also use your Roku box to interface with your Pandora radio account. Being as though I am a pacifist at heart, I won't personally do this, but the Roku box also offers the Ultimate Fighting Championship network, so those of you who enjoy watching grown men beat the snot out of each other can do so via your Roku box.

Why am I writing about this product in a Macintosh group's newsletter? The answer is that the Roku box is a direct competitor with Apple TV. The Roku XD|S box costs the same as Apple's Apple TV, but it does so much more. With the Apple TV device, all you can do is watch your iTunes and iPhoto content, view video content from the iTunes store (for a fee), watch Netflix movies and YouTube. All of that, plus much more can be done for the same price with a Roku box, with the exception of renting video content from the iTunes store. Given that Amazon.com Video on Demand has tons of for rent TV shows, I don't expect to miss the ability to rent shows on the iTunes store and view them on my large screen TV.

In fact, I can stream all my iTunes content wirelessly from my iMac to my television wirelessly via an optional channel called Chaneru which allows me to link my Roku box with a Chaneru server on my iMac. This will also allow me to view one or more iPhoto libraries. If I want to view photos on my TV, I can do it, thanks to my Roku box and the Chaneru channel. The Chaneru server software is available for $10 with a free 30 day trial from www.chaneru.com and it is very easy to install and set up. The Roku box also lets you view your photos on Flickr and SmugMug on your TV. Setting it up to do all of these things is very easy to do.

All in all, I am very happy with my Roku box. I don't miss my subscription TV service from Comcast. I am; however, a little peeved with the Hulu Plus service because the free Hulu service, which is available only on computers (not streaming video boxes or mobile devices) includes a lot more content than the paid Hulu Plus.

I rate the Roku box four out of five stars. It lost one star because the buttons on the remote control unit are very stiff. You have to press down very hard in order to activate any of the remote control's buttons. In addition, there is no power switch on the Roku box, which makes unplugging it the only way to turn it off.