You don't need a set-top box on your living room TV to enjoy the digital music and video nirvana. If you own a game console or a TiVo, you can turn those devices into streamers via your computer, saving you the cost of an Apple TV or other set-top box.
Microsoft recently announced that if you're an Xbox 360 owner and also a Netflix subscriber, it will let you watch thousands of movies on your Xbox 360. That is, you can stream movies from Netflix to your computer and then to the Xbox 360.