CUTTING the cable television cord has always sounded nicer than it really is.

Get out from under that ugly cable bill by watching movies and television shows streamed over the Internet straight to your TV? Gladly. Deal with a tangle of tricky technology and give up a few programs that are on the personal must-watch list? No thanks.

But I recently tested some promising new devices — two Roku smart televisions and a specialized TiVo made specifically for cord-cutters — that make life without cable possible and even easy. After years of complex Internet-to-TV setups and multiple streaming boxes, it seems the technology has finally caught up with the dream.

Roku already makes popular and convenient streaming Internet video devices that you can plug into your TV. Now, it’s teaming up with two little-known TV makers — TCL and Hisense — to make low-priced smart TVs that use the Roku interface for browsing.

Most modern TVs already offer smart features that include streaming from sites like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon. But many people either don’t connect these televisions to the Internet or find their interfaces unintuitive.