Update at 7:30 a.m. PDT: The day of the announcement has been corrected.

Netflix fans will soon have another new option for watching movies.

On Thursday, the company made famous by sending DVDs to consumers via snail mail announced, in conjunction with LG Electronics, the imminent availability of a Blu-ray disc player that will also allow Netflix subscribers to view streaming video of movies and TV shows.

The LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player one-ups the Netflix Player by Roku, a set-top box that hit the market a couple months back. While the Roku device garnered much attention for its streaming-video capabilities, that's about all it does--there is no DVD function.

With the LG box, due to come out this fall, Netflix subscribers will be able to make use of Blu-ray discs and standard DVDs and also to tap into an online repository of about 12,000 movies and TV episodes (a fraction of the overall inventory at Netflix). The service will be available to subscribers at no additional charge.

A feature called BD Live will give people access to additional content and previews.

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that it would allow users of the Xbox 360 game console to view streaming video from Netflix.

With Thursday's announcement, LG and Netflix finally make good on a set-top box promise they made at the start of the year, just ahead of the big Consumer Electronics Show.

The two companies plan to show off the BD300 on Thursday night at LG's 2008 Summer Line Show in New York.

Perhaps at that time, they'll divulge the price of the BD300, which was not included in Thursday morning's press release. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, LG is pegging the price at "well under $500." That compares with just $100 for the more limited Roku box.

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When someone can now go into Walmart and buy a Blu-ray player for $280, this player will have to be "well under $500".