Web applications through built in TV web browsers

Question

Background

I'm interested in deploying a web application on TVs that will show real time data with no user interaction.

Ideally, I'll just display this using the web browser that many new TVs have built in, rather than having to write a TV specific 'application' for each brand of TV.

I'd like to avoid attaching a PC to each TV for cost, power, maintenance and security reasons.

My questions

1. Is there a reference, like http://caniuse.com/ , for what the web browsers in the various TV support with respect to JavaScript and CSS?
2. Are there any specific frameworks that aid in developing web applications that work on multiple TVs (not built in applications)?
3. Is any brand of TV considered superior when it comes to the built in web browser?

Thanks!

Answer 1

This is an interesting and broad question. The closest I could find to caniuse for TV's, was html5test.com. So here is a good place to start: http://html5test.com/results/television.html

As far as I know, most newer TV web browsers are based on WebKit, however some have certain restrictions, such as local storage.

If you know which TV you'll be developing for, you're probably best off looking at the support of that particular brands chosen browser.

Here's a quick compilation of links for your convenience:

• Samsung: Rolling their own based on WebKit? http://www.samsungdforum.com/Devtools/Spec
• Toshiba: Evo Browser - http://www.espial.com/products/evo_browser/
• Sharp: Evo Browser
• Philips: Opera - http://www.opera.com/business/tv/
• Sony: Opera
• LG: LG Netcast 2012 - http://html5test.com/compare/browser/lgnetcast2012.html

Based on the results from html5test.com, any TV with the Evo Browser (or probably also the Opera browser) currently seems to be the best choice when looking at HTML5 support. In general, you probably can't go wrong if you go for a TV with either of those browsers. The Evo Browser seems to be gaining some traction, having partnered up with several large brands. Opera however has some seemingly nice developer tools (emulator), so it might be the better choice.

If you don't know what you'll be developing for, you're generally best off going for jQuery, but you could also read up on Feature Detection in order to provide the best possible user experience for your web application on any given TV.

Here is a list of possible alternatives to jQuery:

• "My Library" (http://www.cinsoft.net/mylib.html)
• Jessie (https://github.com/rassie/jessie/wiki)
• Matt's DOM Utils (http://www.fortybelow.ca/Projects/JavaScript/Utils/)

They're not specifically for TV browsers, so jQuery might still be the better choice.

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As an entirely different solution, you could just buy a cheap Raspberry Pi, load it up with your linux distro of choice, and hook it up to the TV. Then you can use whichever desktop browser you prefer, with all its glorious features.