A little over fifty days after Vudu launched its set-top movie box and download service (see our review), the company has slashed the price of its hardware from $399 to $250.

Will the price cut give Vudu a much needed boost in the face of increasing competition? I’m not so sure. But it’s a start.

The company still faces a real challenge in persuading consumers to pony up the cash needed to buy the Vudu box in the first place, on top of renting the movies themselves. Instead, Vudu should bundle a number of rentals free with every box purchased. Or better still, turn Vudu into a subscription service similar to Netflix, with a minimum contract — say twelve months — and give the box away for free.

Last week we stated the case for why we might see Netflix roll out its own dedicated set-top box in the not too distant future. However, during the company’s Q3 earnings call with investors, CEO Reed Hastings talked up more ambitious plans including the possibility of putting Netflix’s online video service onto next generation games consoles, XBox 360 and PS3, along with networked DVD players and other set-top boxes.

See also: Netflix is finally coming to Xbox 360, which is getting a dashboard makeover and Mii-like avatars

“Our goals in online video over the coming years are three-fold: one, to expand the content we offer online; two, to make it inexpensive and easy for consumers to view that content on the television; and three, to understand what the financial model for the hybrid service will be in the long-term.”

In terms of making it easier for consumers to view online video on a television, Reed says that Netflix are working with a “variety of partners” to explore options including Internet connected, high definition DVD players, Internet connected game consoles, and dedicated Internet set-top boxes.

“In the meantime, laptop computers are, for the younger generation, one of the primary ways video of all sorts is being enjoyed, and our online viewing is up dramatically quarter over quarter.”

SanDisk has become the latest company to tackle the PC-to-TV problem.

Taking a much simpler approach compared to the many media extenders on the market, the Sansa TakeTV player forgoes the need for a home network. Instead, content is physically shuttled from a PC to a TV via a dedicated USB stick and docking station. “No confusing WiFi set-ups, no waiting to burn DVDs”, boasts the Sansa online store.

The TakeTV device supports popular video formats DivX and xVid, and is available in two versions: a four-gigabyte model priced at $99 and an eight-gigabyte model for $149.

To support its TakeTV device, SanDisk has also rolled out a Beta version of a new video download service called Fanfare, which will offer paid-for, and eventually, ad-supported content from various partners. Of note, CBS and independent film-store Jaman are among the first to have signed on.

Could Netflix be about to launch a set-top box?

Dave Zatz over at Zatz Not Funny thinks so, after the movie rental company that’s best known for putting DVDs in the post, updated its trademark filling to explicitly reference a set-top box that can download and deliver video content from the Internet directly to a television.

Zatz notes that this isn’t first time that talk of a Netflix set-top box has surfaced, which begin last April with the recruitment of Anthony Wood to the newly created position of VP of Internet TV. According to the press release issued at the time, Wood would be “responsible for all aspects of product development related to the company’s strategic intent to deliver movies directly to subscribers’ televisions via the Internet.” Prior to joining Neflix, Wood was CEO of Roku, the company behind the SoundBridge line of audio streaming devices, and before that he was founder of ReplayTV — no less — credited with being the creator of the digital video recorder (DVR). In other words, Wood has some serious hardware pedigree.

The BBC’s iPlayer (see our earlier review) will roll out a streaming option later this year, in a move that will finally make the UK-only TV catchup service available to Mac and Linux users, in addition to those using a Windows-based PC.

Described as a “strategic partnership”, by Erik Huggers, BBC future media and technology group controller, the new version of iPlayer will use Flash video technology from Adobe, and is said to compliment the existing Windows-only download version of the service, which utilizes Microsoft’s Windows Media software.