See iPad + Apple TV. It works rather well.

Except is Apple and you're forced to use iTunes among other i stuff.

I'll stick to Netflix, PS3, $30 outdoor antenna, and the Internet. Get same content for less ... actually a lot more content.

USB TV card and WiiU app/channel could do the job. The cable companies could make their own and it would allow for the possibility of two TV channels to be watched at the same time.

I'd like the option to relegate the TV to the Umote instead of NSMBMiiWiiU.

Or it can just get hulu lol

QFT

Forced to use iTunes? Airplay works with Youtube, CNN, CBC TV, NFB, Air Video (which supports just about any video format you can download from the internet), and who knows how many apps I'm not aware of. Netflix doesn't support Airplay, but is accessible directly on the Apple TV itself.

You should probably stop pretending you understand the iOS ecosystem at all.

Makes too much sense, so Nintendo won't allow it

... and with all of that your only media control option is iTunes.

I don't know if things have improved with the last firmware and the second generation of AppleTVs. But my sister owns a first generation one and the streaming of files was done through iTunes with their video formats, it felt limited. It's true that you could watch youtube on the device.

Repeating yourself doesn't suddenly make what you're saying true.

When you use the airplay feature, you're controlling playback with the iPad. You choose the video from the iPad. You pause from the iPad. You fast forward and rewind from the iPad. iTunes doesn't need to be running on any device for this to work. The Apple TV you use doesn't even need to be logged into your Apple ID, it just needs to be on the same local network as your device. You can even exit the playing app to look stuff up on IMDB or something without interrupting playback, accessing controls from the task bar when needed.

Even if you're using the Apple TV's software instead of your iPad's software, navigation can be conducted with an app on the iPad with no need for iTunes to be running anywhere. Though in that scenario, content will be limited to Netflix, Youtube, and iTunes rentals only.

@TomaTito

The second generation Apple TV is a very different beast from the first. Some people prefer to think of it as simply a peripheral that lets your iDevice wirelessly use your TV as output, though it isn't exactly useless if you don't have an iDevice.