Watching Internet TV and movies on your television set is becoming easy as pie now that an ever expanding number of Internet-enabled TV sets and Blu-ray players let users easily stream video from the Web to the big screen using a broadband connection. But if your ready to bite the bullet and get internet connected, then what do you need to consider before buying?

With an internet enabled tv set you can watch some stuff for free and some is a paid for service. For free are the usual Youtube videos, news, sports and more from Yahoo, photographs stored on Picasa and/or Flickr and you can listen to music from Internet radio stations such as Pandora and Slacker.  The good stuff such as latest movies and top TV shows are pay-per-view or, with Netflix, included with a subscription. Other online streaming services include Amazon Video on Demand, Blockbuster on Demand and Vudu.

There are of course other options apart from internet-enabled TVs and Blu-ray players. Other devices are available that offer access to streaming movies and online content including the TiVo HD DVR, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 which comes with built in Blu-ray player and browser.  There are also dedicated boxes that connect to an existing broadband service via Wi-Fi.  Some of the streaming services, such as Vudu also offer their own set-top boxes for a cost.

If you are considering upgrading your DVD player to a Blu-ray player then make sure you go for an Internet-enabled model as it will be less expensive than upgrading to a TV that is internet enabled but you will get the same results.  Boxes dedicated to streaming video are available from Roku, HD, $80, and MediaPoint, free with $99 worth of Blockbuster movie rentals.  AppleTV, $229, allows access to the iTunes video library, and Vudu has a box for $149.  Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PS 3 can show streaming content from Netflix.

So the best and cheapest option is (if you dont already have Blu-ray) to upgrade your DVD player and become instantly internet connected.

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