San Francisco (CA) - Netflix will expand its operations beyond rental-by-mail and digital download services, as it has announced a plan to bring movies directly to user TV sets.

The Internet company announced late yesterday that it has finalized a deal with LG Electronics to manufacture the set-top box, which will run with the same basic infrastructure as Netflix’s current movie download service.

Netflix says that more than 10 million movies and TV shows have been accessed through its "watch instantly" feature, which lets users view content directly on their computer from the Netflix movie page.

According to the Associated Press, the set-top box will still require users to have a high-speed Internet connection, and they must control some of the operations like movie selecting, from a computer before they show up on the TV.

This is in contrast to other set-top devices like Tivo or Apple TV, which have can be accessed and operated entirely without the need to have a computer nearby.

The Netflix box will be more officially unveiled during next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.