WOF: Do you use a dedicated media streaming box?

The "decent" Blu-ray player will likely stream content, but have you used one? It takes as long to load the Netflix app as it does to watch a TV show -- those "smart" players are really more of a nuisance than anything else.

If you already have the Tivo (do they still require a monthly fee?) a PS3 and you likely also have a Cable box/DVR. That's all great, but if you have one Xbox 360 and already have a PC with a 2GHz processor or better, you can just add a $180 Ceton card and have a quad HDTV CableLabs certified tuner in your PC.

Stream and control your "TV" through Xbox Media Center Extender. Not only do you remove all the clutter around your TV, but you also will save on your DVR and cable box monthly fees, share TV from your PC all around the home -- and less energy used because you only have one device.

Sure, you don't have Blu-ray with the Xbox, but honestly, most things don't need HD 1080p video and those that do are easily rentable via the Xbox Video app.

My 79 yo mother has switched to Media Center Extender via Xbox and she became a DVR, video, slideshow, Netflix maven in about 2 days. Much quicker than learning the PS3, the HD DVR and/or the Tivo.

No disrespect to the Western Digital, or Sony, but you should return them all and replace them with an InfiniTV PCIe or USB 4xTuner card, add Extenders (MCX) or Xboxes around your home and save about $40 a month on your cable bill.

No.. just use an xbox 360

I used to have a dedicated media player, which I didn't use for streaming in large part because wifi reception near my TV is pretty bad. It broke down, however, and now I have an HTPC.

lol, I cancelled my cable years ago. I use a WHS (w/6TB storage) as a media jukebox.
Also, I couldn't get rid of my PS3, I enjoy watching blu-rays too much. (I have a couple hundred of em now) Although, I might start doing what "TomSEA" does.

Roku channels like Plex make all the difference. I can stream online or stuff from my WMC PC. PlayOn is another good one.

I also have a small Foxconn nettop with a D510 Atom processor/HDMI-out. It barely sips power so it can stay online (uTorrent) and WMC looks nice on my TV. The WMC content is actually pulled from another PC that has more oomph to record 2 HD streams simultaneously from a SiliconDust HDHomeRun tuner.

There's some overlap in services between HTPC and Roku so I have one hooked up to my bedroom TV and the other on my larger living room TV.

I don't have a cable box, actually. Tivo HD can handle that for itself. Tivo does charge for the service but it does so much more than any other DVR including a PC media server. Based on the shows I tell it to record it records tons of other shows (which I can mark with 1-3 thumbs up or down to further refine its understanding of what I like) each day that I can scroll through and watch. These shows get deleted after about 1.5 weeks (sooner if I can tons of stuff recorded that I asked for) and give me a chance to try new shows or provide me with entertainment I know I like but that aren't important enough to instruct it to record (old episodes of The Simpsons for instance). I don't have an XBox 360 and certainly won't be buying one so I can "only" pay another $180 to be able to record TV on my computer