Home theater is the way of the future. With the quality of components improving steadily, and the prices to match coming steadily down, and the movie theaters continuing to hike prices on everything (not to mention those pesky gas prices climbing to boot) yet provide precious little that they hadn't been providing 20 years ago, home theater is just outpacing the alternative. And home theater just got a little sweeter indeed with the announcement that a variety of Discovery Channel shows are heading to Amazon Instant Video.

Amazon made the announcement yesterday via press release that they would win the rights to stream a wide array of Discovery Communications shows, which not only includes some of the biggest names from Discovery Channel itself like Deadliest Catch and the recently canceled Man Vs. Wild, but also a set of shows from Discovery Communications' other networks like Animal Planet (and if you've been wondering where you can catch Meerkat Manor these days, it looks like Amazon's the place to go), as well as the Oprah Winfrey Network, Investigation Discovery, the Science Channel and more.

The agreement represents fully 3,000 titles, and gives you quite a bit of incentive to sign on with Amazon Instant Video if you're not already there, even at Amazon's $79.99 subscription cost. Considering that that's an annual fee, however, it's a significant savings over Netflix.

However, Netflix still has one crucial advantage over Amazon Instant Video, and that's the hardware front. While Amazon has been gaining ground with the Kindle Fire tablet, regarded by some as the only true competition the iPad has due to its small size, lower cost and robust content infrastructure, Netflix is getting to be downright ubiquitous, showing up on a variety of TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and more. Amazon's definitely an up-and-comer in terms of its offerings, but until it can get a hardware profile to match Netflix, it will have a tough time getting out of Netflix's shadow.

Plus, Amazon would also do well to get a handle on its Prime service for students; while Amazon currently offers a free month of Amazon Prime to anyone who buys a Kindle Fire—and six months to students—the student plan requires upgrading to a paid plan to watch streaming video. And considering the Discovery Communications offerings are tailor-made for students, opening the student plan to streaming video would likely provide a serious leg up as Amazon could position itself as the video provider of choice to schools. Spend a day watching the Discovery Channel and see if you can't spot at least five shows you'd be happy to show a room full of, say, middle school students.

With a bit of retooling, and a few necessary hardware expansions (like an all-too-necessary iOS app that Amazon doesn't even offer yet), Amazon could be a significant force in the steadily growing home theater market. But if Amazon doesn't get to growing soon, it may well get to dying, no matter what it offers.