Family movie night, 2010 style

We officially canceled cable last year, the final step in moving to a completely on-demand cinematic lifestyle. OK, "cinematic lifestyle" is a stretch, but since we certainly enjoy movies on the tube, and given the availability of (legal) movie download sources on the web, we thought we'd take the plunge, maybe even save a few bucks in the long run. Last year, as my husband hooked up our Mac Mini to the TV and viola! Who needs live TV? Even our demanding Friday night movie crowd (e.g, our kids) adjusted nicely. Call it an experiment, but it's been a successful experiment. Here's how we did it.

It's not that difficult if you don't mind doing a little web surfing to get to your video destination.

• Know that in general, when it comes to home video streaming -- a hard wired internet/ethernet connection (as opposed to wireless) will greatly reduce connection problems
• Netflix on demand is a must. There's a growing library of instant movies you can watch right on your computer, TV or game console -- Xbox 360, Playstation3 and even on Wii
• Speaking of Xbox 360, the Zune Marketplace can be accessed from the game console, where you can rent, buy and stream a large selection of movies (we watched Inglorious Basterds the other night, it was flawless)
• While we don't use Amazon Unbox video on demand, we've heard good things
• If you want to watch on your television, pick up an inexpensive PC or a Apple Mac Mini (starting at $599) and hook it up to your set
• Elgato EyeTV tuner turns your Mac Mini into a DVR, HD/FM/Analog tuner and exports all video recordings to iPhone/iPod touch formats so you can watch on the go
• All the networks (abc.com, nbc.com, cbs.com, etc. stream their most popular shows, usually a day after the "live" broadcast
• Hulu.com offers a huge selection of movies and shows, and a nice desktop application for viewing
• Applications like Boxee help you find and view on-demand content on your TV or computer
• YouTube is getting into the full-length on demand game, but currently the title list is pretty weak

It's still early on the on-demand game, but if this year's CES coverage is any indication, we're going to see on-demand take a big, flying leap from the techno-hobbyists to the average consumer soon. Certainly, Hollywood is preparing for the eventual mass transition to digital/on-demand distribution, and we hope "free" will continue to be part of the model, even if it's some sort of ad-supported system.