Not long ago, I set about the task of completely ditching my cable subscription, and stumbled upon a solution that is really cheap and really easy, withou thte need to sacrifice comfort or quality. If you sign up for any Netflix service, including the cheap $7.99 a month service, you get access to their streaming movie service that has over 10,000 movies and shows. There are loads of really great shows on this service! I have watched seasons of Heroes, Dexter, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s anatomy, Law and order, Jericho, and The Shield (to name a few). They also have a fair share of good movies, and of course since it’s Netflix,  anything you may want to see that isn’t on the online service you can just order it on DVD

I have also found that I really like watching TV show series better after the whole season has been released (there’s nothing worse than having to wait a week after a cliffhanger episode). You may already be Netflix customers and may not be taking advantage of the service because you don’t realize how good the service is (it’s improved greatly over the last year) and how EASY it is to get the service to your TV.

I have a 46″ LCD TV and even on the large screen the quality is almost perfect. If you are really picky and want to have everything in super HD then you may not love it, but for everyone else you will be very happy with it. It is very very close to DVD quality.

I also thought before I had the service I would run into the same problems as I often do on YouTube: buffering problems, pauses, glitches and long delays especially on higher quality videos. I have not experienced that at all with the Netflix service; not even once. Another concern many have is how long it takes to buffer up the movie or show … it’s only about 20 seconds … seriously. It’s impressive how Netflix can manage to pump great quality video out so fast

There are a number of ways to get the Netflix service physically hooked up on your TV. If you have a XBOX, PS3 or certain TiVO models you may already be set up for it. I didn’t have any of those, so I bought a little device called a ROKU which is VERY impressive. The device is $99, and well worth it, because it will make it simple to get rid of your cable, saving you $30 to $50 or more a month thus paying for itself quickly. The Roku device is a small light box that looks similar to a set top box, but is less than 1/4 the size. It has standard composite video/audio connection (as well as HDMI connectors) and a network interface to plug in an ethernet cable for the internet.

To make it even more convenience-enthusiast compliant, the device supports connecting to your home wireless network! ROKU may not be a well known brand, but the device is extremely well done. It has a really easy setup wizard so once you get it plugged in you will get connected to the internet and connected to the Netflix service within a few minutes.

Of course, the one caveat is that you do must have a high speed internet connection. I use the service on my home Cox Communications ‘net connection; my subscription plan is the lowest speed they offer and I still didn’t experience any hiccups.

Between the overall quality of experience that I have had with this service and the price, I really could not be more impressed with the service. The myriad of devices Netflix streaming options are available on not only allow you to get rid of your cable, but to do so joyously.