Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) announced yesterday that its real-time internet video streaming service would soon be included in many new flat-screen television sets made by LG Electronics. The online DVD rental pioneer is taking huge leaps to get content directly to consumers without using any kind of physical media.

But what about other video streaming services? Perhaps Amazon.com Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AMZN) Video On Demand, which has more than 40,000 pieces of content to offer?

Although Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) Apple TV product -- which sells for over $200 -- has been on the market for a few years now, the content is limited and the box only works on HDTV sets. A smaller box made by Roku, which was initially only able to offer Netflix's 12,000-piece direct online catalog, will now be offering over 40,000 pieces of content from Amazon.com's Video On Demand service. The $100 box also works with almost any television, although not much of the content if offered from either Netflix or Amazon.com in high-definition yet. Do customers really care? Based on the slow adoption rate and higher price of the high-definition Blu-ray format over standard-definition DVD, not much.

Apple may see some serious competition from Netflix here. The company that practically invented the DVD rental by mail business is now storming heavily into the digital content delivery business, where few companies have been successful. There still is not a popular, mass-market device that brings internet content and delivery directly to television sets. This Roku box -- which now features content from two of the largest online digital libraries -- may be the closest device yet.