Easily one of the most attractive (conceptually) and ingenious gadgets that I’ve seen all year.

A pint-sized tv receiver, equipped with wifi and ethernet connections, that to turns any television into a Netflix on-demand powerhouse…and it’s HD-ready and only cost $100 (plus an existing Netflix membership). What’s messin’ with that?!

The only issues that threaten to blow The Netflix Player off my radar, and keep me from being an early adopter:

1.) Only a fraction of the Netflix library is available for viewing (”Instant Watching” titles only).

2.) Although the player itself is HD-ready, titles in the “Instant Watching” library are only available in near-DVD quality at the moment.

The near-dvd picture quality I can handle, especially since Netflix plans to make HD movies and tv shows available in the future (peep: faq’s). But the limited, and rather sub par quality of the Netflix “Instant Watching” library is a whole ‘nother story. Right now I’d compare it to one of those bargain DVD racks found in some your favorite big box stores–a few gems here and there, but lots of filler in between. Not necessarily bad filler, but common titles that you’ve probably seen several times over, and some that you don’t ever want to see again.

We may see more premium titles make their way over in the near future, but for now it is what it is.

Either way, for the price and as a companion to an existing Netflix by mail membership, the player might just be one of the best alternatives to Apple TV to hit the scene yet. What do you think?