New Amazon set

The new $99 Amazon Fire TV set-top box is the easiest on-ramp yet for getting movies and TV programming from the Web to your big screen. That's the good news. But even with its massive selection - 200,000 movies and TV episodes alone from Amazon Instant Video - this device still falls short of the long-sought solution for cutting the cable.

That Amazon is entering the set-top space is significant, adding another major digital content player into the TV hardware space at a time when consumers are starting to shift away from cable and satellite.

I tried the slim black box, and if you don't already have a streaming device, this is certainly worthy of being connected to your TV, especially if you are a devoted Amazon customer and Prime subscriber. Those who already pay the $99 Amazon Prime annual fee for two-day delivery of product purchases will get easy access to 40,000 movies and TV episodes that can be viewed at no extra cost (the rest of the Amazon catalog requires a la carte charges).

In addition to Amazon's video offerings, Fire TV also lets you connect to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora and other popular streaming services. And while it also supports Watch ESPN, that app is only available to cable subscribers, so live sports over the Web remains elusive.

Fire TV's slick remote lets you use your voice to search - a feature no other set-top box has. Every time I asked for something to watch - be it Orphan Black,24, Clint Eastwood or Elvis - I quickly had a result with options.

Apple TV and Roku owners, who've already spent about $100 on those set-top boxes, probably won't find anything here that will make them want to jump ship, though. Apple TV still has the advantage of cataloging videos and music you've purchased on iTunes. For its part, Roku handles most favorite streaming TV services and apps, just like Fire TV.

Meanwhile, the lower-priced Google Chromecast ($35) has Netflix, Hulu and Pandora, as well as Vudu and HBO Go - also on Roku, but not yet available on Fire TV, which does have the Showtime Anytime app. (Chromecast also requires that you use your laptop or mobile device as its remote.)

A wild card for Amazon is games. Since Fire TV is based on the Android operating system, you can already play many mobile games using just the remote. But a $39.99 game controller is needed for more sophisticated entries such as the space combat game Sev Zero, the first release from Amazon's own game studio.

Devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku and Google Chromecast offer the ability to stream movies, TV shows and music straight from the Internet to your TV (mostly through subscription services such as Netflix). You can stay current on many prime-time shows through a $7.99 monthly subscription to Hulu Plus.

But if you're a sports fan, you'll have difficulty finding many live events through streaming options; the rights to most leagues and major events are locked up by ESPN and other cable channels. You could always buy an antenna, but even then, fewer and fewer games are available via over-the-air free TV.