That bright red envelope could soon be a thing of the past. Earlier this week, a Netflix representative said that as early as the end of 2009, his company could offer an all-streaming service plan.

It's really no surprise; Netflix has been kicking the DVD format long before it was down. In late 2007, the U.S. Post Office wanted the service to start shelling out millions for all of its mailing mishaps. In May 2008, they started spewing partnerships for hardware devices that would stream the rental service. Last summer, they started charging another buck each month for Blu-ray rentals. By November came the news that the service would stop selling all of its overstock DVDs.

While the company doesn't have plans to drop the disc option (yet), it is certainly making it easy to stream content. For some time, Netflix has offered the ability to stream movies to any PC (Mac capabilities came last October).

Currently, Netflix offers over 12,000 selections for streaming. That's not that big of a chunk compared to the 100,000-plus titles you can get sent through the mail. Still, if the service keeps adding new releases, it may be hard not to start streaming. Some of the boxes have a very attractive price tag; some may already be nestling in your A/V cabinet. Let's take a look at some of the ways subscribers can currently stream Netflix.

Xbox 360
Last month, Microsoft announced that it had sold 28 million of these machines worldwide. Sure that's nothing to sneeze at, but the Wii brought us flailing hand motions and the PS3 pushed Blu-ray sales to the next level. Just when you thought Xbox was the underdog in innovation, they throw in a little thing like movie streaming to mix things up. The PS3 allows users to rent and purchase movie titles; this one just provides access to what’s already rightfully yours. It also allows you to practice up on your Call of Duty in between movie marathons. Not too shabby for $299.99. [ Xbox ] 

Roku Digital Video Player
We love all things great and cheap, and this compact box is the smallest and cheapest of the streaming Netflix offerings. For $99.99, Roku will cram everything Netflix has to offer into your already overcrowded A/V cabinet. It's a nice option if you don't need a new gaming device or Blu-ray player, or just don't feel like feeding more cash to that growing movie monkey on your back. Speaking of which, Roku says that it will soon add access to over 40,000 movies and TV shows via Amazon Video On Demand. [ Roku ]

LG BD300
LG made the first multitasking Netflix streamer. It can't slice, dice or make fries, but the BD300 does come packing the beauty of Blu-ray playback. Aside from BD Live and BonusView, the unit can crank 7.1 channels of audio via Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD and/or DTS-HD. The BD300 can also upconvert standard-def DVDs to 720p or 1080p via HDMI, and has both Ethernet and USB ports. The price tag hasn't come down much since its original release, but Best Buy has them for $350. [ LG ]

Samsung BD-P2500/BD-P2550
Samsung made streaming magic for Blu-ray owners everywhere, via a simple software upgrade. Both of these players offer BD Live, upconverting and Dolby Digital Plus and lossless Dolby TrueHD extras. In case you're wondering which player to purchase, it will probably come down to geography; the P2550 just gets the privilege of being a Best Buy exclusive. Even Samsung doesn't show it on its website. Both retail for $350, but if you really hate Best Buy and still want to be special, you can shell out $600 to get the same exclusivity from Amazon. [ Samsung ]

TiVo Series 3, HD and HD XL
If only TiVo could add satellite radio into its mix (it does deliver Rhapsody though), any one of this trio of devices could bring all of your subscription-based services under one remote. The Series 3 is an older model, stores only 32 hours of high-def, and it's not that easy to find. At $450, you might not want to look very hard. Besides, the HD ($300) holds 20 hours of HD, with the XL ($600) archiving up to 150 hours of high-def content. Both the Series 3 and XL also offer THX certification. [ TiVo ]

Since Netflix hasn't "officially" announced a streaming-only service, there's no word on what such a service might cost. However, CNET says we should assume it would be cheaper than the current $9 unlimited monthly plan. It also says it wouldn't be a shocker if the service starts adding fees for customers that do both.

Would you be willing to forgo dealing with the discs? Do you currently stream to get your Netflix fix? Sound off with your two cents about the streaming service in the comments section below.

[Image credit: Header image from Flickr user Ross C. Used via Creative Commons.]