November 14, 2016 at 10:05SMART TV - the future of television
Hello, Habr! Today we suggest discussing the topic of the Smart TV market: we will consider the prospects of this technology, its limitations, and also touch upon questions about the market for developing applications for TVs.
Every year around the world the number of televisions is only increasing. At the moment, there are more than a billion televisions in the world and there are more and more of them. This is just a huge market, comparable in volume to mobile phones.
Once, the main source of information for people was books, when televisions appeared, everyone said that books would disappear, but this did not happen. Then the Internet appeared, and everyone predicted the imminent sunset of television.
But this also turned out to be a fiction. According to recent data, up to 70% of people with a TV regularly watch it. The average television viewing time in the world is about 3.5 hours.
However, there is a constant trend that the younger population spends less time watching television. This is due to the development of the Internet and the diversity of media content in it.
To survive, manufacturers are forced to change. What was new technology yesterday was already outdated today. Conventional TVs are being replaced by interactive, connected to the Internet, with which you can actively interact not only with the remote control, but also from other devices, for example, from a tablet or smartphone.
So, the total number of televisions in the world connected to the Internet (the so-called Connected TV) will reach 876 million by 2020, despite the fact that by the end of 2010 there were 105 million, and by the end of 2015 about 415 million. Trend on the face.
But this is a multi-billion user audience!
From reports from Digital TV Research:
According to IHS Consulting forecasts, by 2017, the share of Smart TV in TV sales will increase from 32% to 73%, i.e. almost all TVs sold will be equipped with this technology.
Changes in the Smart TV market are happening rapidly and ... invisibly to developers. Despite the huge potential, the application market for Smart TV is still virtually empty. More precisely in its infancy. The main reasons for this situation are the fragmentation of the market and the fragmentation of TV manufacturers. There is no single platform similar to Apple’s Play Market on Android or the App Store. Each manufacturer has its own app store, with its own requirements and standards, which makes it difficult to develop cross-platform applications. Nevertheless, the first steps to rectify the situation have already been taken - several major manufacturers: LG, Philips and Sharp have already announced cooperation and the creation of the Smart TV alliance, for a single platform and standards for applications.
Russia is not far behind, even rather the opposite. According to GfK Rus, Russia is on the 3rd place in the world in sales of devices with Smart TV after Brazil and China. And while analysts argue that sales growth will only continue.
The market for TV receivers in Russia is estimated at 96 million units. Of these, about 4.2 million TVs are equipped with the Smart TV option. In total, their number in Russia will reach 29.8 million units in 2017. And large media companies are already actively using this market. For example, the VGTRK company has already released its application, an entire portal with free access to its huge database of video content, including the most relevant stories. Other companies are also not far behind:
For example, ivi on Smart TV alone is used by more than 1.2 million Russians who watch more than 35 million videos per month.
It is believed that only 40-50 people watch television, and young people watch it extremely rarely. This is partly true, the most active audience is pensioners from 66 to 77 years who spend up to 6 hours a day watching television. But according to the latest data, according to studies by the Institute of Modern Media (MOMRI), conducted in early 2016 in Russia, young people under 25 also regularly watch television, refuting all prevailing stereotypes. Basically, this is viewing entertainment programs, cartoons, news. On average, young people spend about 2 hours a day watching television.
This is only a small fraction of the population, mainly the intelligentsia and a highly educated part of the youth, as well as a small group of wealthy people who consider watching TV a waste of time and information waste.
Now 2 basic approaches to creating interactivity in TV are used:
- built-in SmartTV (pre-installed software from the manufacturer);
- digital set-top boxes with Android-based SmartTV
It differs in that each platform (manufacturer's company) has its own SmartTV with its own standards. Built-in SmartTV allows you to watch not only traditional channels, but also any video both from the Internet and from external media, as from a personal computer. It is also possible to install various applications, games, etc.
The main disadvantages of the built-in SmartTV are the limitations of iron and the lack of a single platform for installing applications, each manufacturer has its own.
Digital consoles are becoming more widespread recently, which in principle is logical. For a relatively low price, almost any TV can be turned into a SmartTV, with functionality, sometimes even richer than the built-in firmware. And we don’t even take it into account that the user gets access to millions of applications from the App Store or Play Store, depending on the console.
Our company has development experience for both types of SmartTV. And we would like to share some of the nuances of development and testing, the understanding of which will facilitate the “entry” for new developers and give a little “fresh blood” to the application development market for SmartTV.
Despite the abundance (even excess) of training materials of any degree of difficulty in creating directly HTML5 applications, there are very few materials for developing such materials for TV. Official documentation doesn’t always help: API usage examples may be missing or even contain errors. Reading official forums for developers can help, in the archives of which you can find a lot of interesting things. The following materials will be very useful:
The relative weakness of the native hardware is imposed by its limitations: “heavy” frameworks should be avoided whenever possible (at least until optimization for the platform). Small libraries like ractive.js show good results .
Particular attention is paid to possible memory leaks - an application on TV can work for days and is good if it crashes when the user watches a football match or is going to set another record in a toy. Excellent article on this topic: habrahabr.ru/post/309318
When developing for a platform at an "age" (for example, for NetCast), one should be prepared for the fact that the end user will not always have the latest firmware with errors fixed in the latest versions. One such firmware bug (more precisely, the bug of the webkit she used), formally fixed in 2014, cost the development team two man-weeks.
Development for digital set-top boxes with SmartTV also has its own characteristics. This topic is quite extensive, in this article we will only touch on Chromecast, as one of the most popular solutions now on the market. Before starting development for this platform, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the documentation: developers.google.com/cast/docs/developers and we recommend that you watch this video on our own:
It from and to in detail and accessible (in Russian) tells about development for Chromecast.
Before you begin work on creating an application for the console, you need to decide on the concept of the application. There are two main options for using consoles:
- development of an application that will duplicate on the screen. Like when working with Miracast. It is convenient to use this type of application for various viewers (for example, photo galleries)
- the development of the “remote control” application. With this option, the Chromecast application is installed on your smartphone (it is a layer between your application and the console). And your application performs only a navigation function.
In the Chromecast, as in other consoles, there are limitations in memory (as in the TVs themselves). This must be taken into account during development. So, we once encountered a strange error in one of our applications, when after launch, after 3 seconds, the application crashed, despite the correct code. After a little analysis, the reason was revealed: the application had a lot of media content (including photos with high resolution), as a result, the application crashed due to memory overflow. The problem turned out to be quite serious, but in the new version of the device (Chromecast 2) it was fixed.
The market is promising and is waiting for its Apple. In Russia, only a few dozen teams are purposefully engaged in applications for the SmartTV platform - there is where to deploy. But the development is greatly complicated by the large fragmentation of devices on the market, not every company can afford a large fleet of various devices for which it is necessary to develop applications. But the situation is already gradually improving, positive trends are visible. There is a demand for application development and is constantly growing, and those companies that manage to claim their place in the TV application market will secure a cloudless future.
We hope this article has been helpful. Thanks for attention.
Every year around the world the number of televisions is only increasing. At the moment, there are more than a billion televisions in the world and there are more and more of them. This is just a huge market, comparable in volume to mobile phones.
Once, the main source of information for people was books, when televisions appeared, everyone said that books would disappear, but this did not happen. Then the Internet appeared, and everyone predicted the imminent sunset of television.
But this also turned out to be a fiction. According to recent data, up to 70% of people with a TV regularly watch it. The average television viewing time in the world is about 3.5 hours.
However, there is a constant trend that the younger population spends less time watching television. This is due to the development of the Internet and the diversity of media content in it.
To survive, manufacturers are forced to change. What was new technology yesterday was already outdated today. Conventional TVs are being replaced by interactive, connected to the Internet, with which you can actively interact not only with the remote control, but also from other devices, for example, from a tablet or smartphone.
So, the total number of televisions in the world connected to the Internet (the so-called Connected TV) will reach 876 million by 2020, despite the fact that by the end of 2010 there were 105 million, and by the end of 2015 about 415 million. Trend on the face.
But this is a multi-billion user audience!
From reports from Digital TV Research:
According to IHS Consulting forecasts, by 2017, the share of Smart TV in TV sales will increase from 32% to 73%, i.e. almost all TVs sold will be equipped with this technology.
The most underrated market - Smart TV app market
Changes in the Smart TV market are happening rapidly and ... invisibly to developers. Despite the huge potential, the application market for Smart TV is still virtually empty. More precisely in its infancy. The main reasons for this situation are the fragmentation of the market and the fragmentation of TV manufacturers. There is no single platform similar to Apple’s Play Market on Android or the App Store. Each manufacturer has its own app store, with its own requirements and standards, which makes it difficult to develop cross-platform applications. Nevertheless, the first steps to rectify the situation have already been taken - several major manufacturers: LG, Philips and Sharp have already announced cooperation and the creation of the Smart TV alliance, for a single platform and standards for applications.
And what do we have in Russia?
Russia is not far behind, even rather the opposite. According to GfK Rus, Russia is on the 3rd place in the world in sales of devices with Smart TV after Brazil and China. And while analysts argue that sales growth will only continue.
The market for TV receivers in Russia is estimated at 96 million units. Of these, about 4.2 million TVs are equipped with the Smart TV option. In total, their number in Russia will reach 29.8 million units in 2017. And large media companies are already actively using this market. For example, the VGTRK company has already released its application, an entire portal with free access to its huge database of video content, including the most relevant stories. Other companies are also not far behind:
For example, ivi on Smart TV alone is used by more than 1.2 million Russians who watch more than 35 million videos per month.
Who is watching TV now?
It is believed that only 40-50 people watch television, and young people watch it extremely rarely. This is partly true, the most active audience is pensioners from 66 to 77 years who spend up to 6 hours a day watching television. But according to the latest data, according to studies by the Institute of Modern Media (MOMRI), conducted in early 2016 in Russia, young people under 25 also regularly watch television, refuting all prevailing stereotypes. Basically, this is viewing entertainment programs, cartoons, news. On average, young people spend about 2 hours a day watching television.
Who doesn't watch TV?
This is only a small fraction of the population, mainly the intelligentsia and a highly educated part of the youth, as well as a small group of wealthy people who consider watching TV a waste of time and information waste.
What happens SmartTV:
Now 2 basic approaches to creating interactivity in TV are used:
- built-in SmartTV (pre-installed software from the manufacturer);
- digital set-top boxes with Android-based SmartTV
Built-in SmartTV
It differs in that each platform (manufacturer's company) has its own SmartTV with its own standards. Built-in SmartTV allows you to watch not only traditional channels, but also any video both from the Internet and from external media, as from a personal computer. It is also possible to install various applications, games, etc.
The main disadvantages of the built-in SmartTV are the limitations of iron and the lack of a single platform for installing applications, each manufacturer has its own.
Digital set-top boxes with SmartTV
Digital consoles are becoming more widespread recently, which in principle is logical. For a relatively low price, almost any TV can be turned into a SmartTV, with functionality, sometimes even richer than the built-in firmware. And we don’t even take it into account that the user gets access to millions of applications from the App Store or Play Store, depending on the console.
Our company has development experience for both types of SmartTV. And we would like to share some of the nuances of development and testing, the understanding of which will facilitate the “entry” for new developers and give a little “fresh blood” to the application development market for SmartTV.
Features of development for SmartTV
Development:
Despite the abundance (even excess) of training materials of any degree of difficulty in creating directly HTML5 applications, there are very few materials for developing such materials for TV. Official documentation doesn’t always help: API usage examples may be missing or even contain errors. Reading official forums for developers can help, in the archives of which you can find a lot of interesting things. The following materials will be very useful:
- “Creating Applications for LG Smart TV: Tips for a Beginner Developer”
- “Creating a cross-platform Smart TV application based on the SmartBox library for Samsung, LG, Philips and others (tutorial)”
- “We get acquainted with the features of development for Smart TV and learn how to make an application for the TV”
- “Undervalued Smart TV Market”
The relative weakness of the native hardware is imposed by its limitations: “heavy” frameworks should be avoided whenever possible (at least until optimization for the platform). Small libraries like ractive.js show good results .
Particular attention is paid to possible memory leaks - an application on TV can work for days and is good if it crashes when the user watches a football match or is going to set another record in a toy. Excellent article on this topic: habrahabr.ru/post/309318
When developing for a platform at an "age" (for example, for NetCast), one should be prepared for the fact that the end user will not always have the latest firmware with errors fixed in the latest versions. One such firmware bug (more precisely, the bug of the webkit she used), formally fixed in 2014, cost the development team two man-weeks.
Development for digital set-top boxes with SmartTV also has its own characteristics. This topic is quite extensive, in this article we will only touch on Chromecast, as one of the most popular solutions now on the market. Before starting development for this platform, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the documentation: developers.google.com/cast/docs/developers and we recommend that you watch this video on our own:
It from and to in detail and accessible (in Russian) tells about development for Chromecast.
Before you begin work on creating an application for the console, you need to decide on the concept of the application. There are two main options for using consoles:
- development of an application that will duplicate on the screen. Like when working with Miracast. It is convenient to use this type of application for various viewers (for example, photo galleries)
- the development of the “remote control” application. With this option, the Chromecast application is installed on your smartphone (it is a layer between your application and the console). And your application performs only a navigation function.
In the Chromecast, as in other consoles, there are limitations in memory (as in the TVs themselves). This must be taken into account during development. So, we once encountered a strange error in one of our applications, when after launch, after 3 seconds, the application crashed, despite the correct code. After a little analysis, the reason was revealed: the application had a lot of media content (including photos with high resolution), as a result, the application crashed due to memory overflow. The problem turned out to be quite serious, but in the new version of the device (Chromecast 2) it was fixed.
Testing
- The TV application has a limited set of control methods. So, when testing, you need to check the operation of all the functional buttons on the remote, because Application reactions can be unpredictable.
- Also, TVs have several remotes, and you need to check on each. So, for example, there are standard remotes, but there are remotes with cursor control, there are remotes with a gyroscope (gesture control), with a touch panel and you need to check the behavior of the application on all devices.
- When streaming video broadcasts, various artifacts may occur due to the varying degrees of support for the formats and broadcast parameters used by the players and video playback should be tested on as many options as possible (different broadcast operators, online broadcast sources, device firmware versions, etc.).
As an example: on some iptv streams, resizing the player window provided by the NetCast API did not work until the video actually started playing. - Also, when testing, it is important to have several different devices with the necessary operating system, as TVs are very different from each other characteristics (iron). Although the screen resolutions are standardized, the real power of the iron can take a lot of walks (it’s not for nothing that “professional rake runners” are advised to conduct testing on the cheapest ranges, where the iron is weaker).
- I would also like to note that the behavior of the application on the emulator and the real device can be very different. And for full-fledged development and testing, you just need to have several different TV models on hand.
In our company for these purposes there is a whole fleet of television sets of various brands. - When publishing an application, different manufacturers have their own requirements. At Samsung this procedure is simpler, it’s enough to fill in the necessary fields, make a presentation and prepare a guarantee letter (it is different for paid and free applications). The publication is relatively fast (from one week for one country to a couple of months for all countries).
- LG is a little more complicated. In addition to filling in the required fields (and there are a lot of them), the following documents will be required:
- presentation with application usage scenarios;
- checklist of application compliance with requirements;
A checklist is a document that describes how an application meets the requirements of LG. QA from LG carefully check your application for all points. - Comments are not always comments, Korean QAs are sometimes too formalized about their work, so do not hesitate to contact tech support with explanations and questions about comments if you consider them unjustified.
- I would also like to note that the moderation time in LG takes from 2 weeks. Therefore, the release dates must be planned with a margin and take into account the likelihood of failure and re-moderation.
What conclusions have we made
The market is promising and is waiting for its Apple. In Russia, only a few dozen teams are purposefully engaged in applications for the SmartTV platform - there is where to deploy. But the development is greatly complicated by the large fragmentation of devices on the market, not every company can afford a large fleet of various devices for which it is necessary to develop applications. But the situation is already gradually improving, positive trends are visible. There is a demand for application development and is constantly growing, and those companies that manage to claim their place in the TV application market will secure a cloudless future.
We hope this article has been helpful. Thanks for attention.