Diamond's VStream wireless HDMI adapter

Not all of us care to set up and carefully tweak a home-theater PC. Not all of us even bother to acquire set-top devices—PVRs, consoles, or otherwise—that can grab the latest video content from the Internet. For the lazy or indifferent, getting shows from Netflix or BitTorrent into the living room usually involves a plain old HDMI cable, often with a laptop pushing pixels at the other end.

There's nothing technically wrong with that solution, but having a long HDMI cable running across one's living room has some downsides. You've got to unroll the thing, plug it in, and try not to trip over it while walking to the couch with drinks and popcorn obscuring your view. Leaving the laptop next to the TV alleviates the cabling problem, but it means having to get off the couch to control playback. You can forget about loafing around on Facebook while watching the latest Top Gear, too. Ugh!