This, of course, is where the TiVo and Amazon plan run into some competition, but they’re banking on you already having your TiVo connected to your TV and just getting content from them instead of downloading it through iTunes and playing through your AppleTV box.
If you’re thinking of buying an AppleTV box, and you don’t already have TiVo or don’t have a compatible model, or get TiVo from DirectTV satellite or have a TiVo box that connects to the service via a phone line instead of a high-speed broadband connection, and you want this service, you’re going to have to make a choice on how to get it.

And so far, you’ve got a few to choose from. Here are the ways you can get downloaded content from the Internet onto your TV:

- Amazon Unbox and TiVo
- Amazon and your PC
- iTunes and your PC (and soon AppleTV)
- iTunes and your iPod Video (which can also be connected to TVs)
- Any Windows DRM compatible video download service and a Windows DRM video player from Creative, iRiver and others that can also be hooked up to your TV
- Netflix video download service
- Your PC connected to your TV with a site like Youtube or others
- Xbox 360 Live video download service
- Nintendo Wii browser connected to Youtube
- Video downloads on your PC sent to TV through Xbox 360
- Video downloads on PC sent via D-Link, NetGear and other TV media players
- Windows XP and Vista Media Center video download services (with Xbox 360 hookup capability)
- Upcoming Sony PS3 video download service

If you think about all of those different ways to get TV show and movie downloads from the Internet and play them on your TV, the TiVo is one of the easiest ways, on a box purely dedicated to letting you choose the TV that you want to watch, when you want to watch it, now with the added benefit of letting you download content directly to the box, instead of waiting for a channel or a network to schedule its broadcast for you to record.

Solutions such as the XP and Vista Media Center and the Xbox 360 video download service are also two solutions that are elegant and are also easily controlled with a remote control, with Apple’s upcoming AppleTV also set to present a very smooth interface as demonstrated at Macworld by Steve Jobs. The PS3 would also work very smoothly.

But all of those solutions add a heavily sophisticated computing device into the mix. Naturally, they do that because they offer a range of other functionality as well, from general computing using the TV as the screen, in high resolution, to playing games, surfing the web, composing emails, having video conferences through Skype or other software (and using a suitable web cam), playing games and more – and because of all of this extra functionality, including direct TV show and movie download capabilities, aim to become the primary device by which you interact with all of your paid content – be it games, software programs or TV show and movie downloads.

That’s the dream of Sony, Microsoft, TiVo, Amazon and all of the cable TV companies – they’re all fighting to be the ones to provide it all to you, and to either gain you or not lose you as a customer. Cable companies offering bandwidth and telcos offering DSL who are also offering or will offer IPTV are also competitors to someone like Amazon using the available infrastructure to send what could ultimately be millions of terbabytes of video data through the network.

So can TiVo win this battle, or not? Read onto the next page for the conclusion!