In what will probably be really bad news for companies such as Blockbuster and Vongo but great news for the rest of us, Netflix is reportedly hard at work on a set-top box for movie downloads deep in the company's research caves. Cutting out the already pretty simple process of putting a DVD in an envelope and dropping it in a mailbox, the box would automatically download movies from your queue to your box overnight, cutting out pretty much any effort on your part other than choosing which movies you want to watch. This seems to us exactly what downloadable video should be. Getting rid of the whole PC thing, which you need to use most current download services like Vongo, could turn downloading movies into something people might actually want to do. Furthermore, since you wouldn't be storing the films on a PC, it would help assuage the technophobic film industry's fears of piracy. Having the name recognition of Netflix behind the whole process certainly helps. They're still working out the details, but the whole shebang could be ready to go as early as the end of the year. Get excited.
— Adam Frucci

Variety, via Gizmodo