Introduction to Samsung Smart TV

This will introduce you to Samsung Smart TV, new features, history of Samsung Smart TV, it’s SDK including requirements and about application structure, resolution, types and it’s life cycle.

What is Samsung Smart TV:

Samsung Smart TV is a platform that integrates both Internet and web features in TVs and set-top boxes, as well as provides a way for technological to combine TVs and other devices like computers, smart phones and tablets.

Features of Samsung Smart TV:

1. Stay in the hub of your social circle with Smart TV: Smart Hub’s social page lets you to see your friend’s favourite video through Facebook and Twitter, and even allows you to make video calls through Skype.
   
2. Enjoy access to all of the apps you want: Enjoy all of the apps from a Samsung Smart TV by downloading through Samsung Apps. You will be able to load all of your favourite apps on Apps page.
3. Simply share and enjoy content from various devices: Samsung’s Allshare creates a wireless network through which you can enjoy content from other devices, like a PC or camera. You can easily share content like photos, videos and music, on your Samsung Smart TV.
4. Smart Control:
   1. Voice control to change channel
   2. Voice control to control volume
   3. Flip to smart hub with Motion control
   4. Zoom-in, zoom-out and rotate photos using both hands
   5. Like a photo on Facebook with Thumbs up gesture
   6. Enjoy playing game apps

History of Samsung Smart TV:
2008:
Birth of content-oriented TV that easily connects to the internet and USB devices
2009:
Starting off widget services
2010:
Birth of the world’s first multi-device application
2011:
Key to the rise of the Smart TV era: Content
2012:
Smart Interaction: watch, listen and interact
2013:
TV that evolves by upgrading to the latest features
2014:
More convenient, more intuitive Smart TV
2015:
Powered by Tizen, Samsung’s Smart TV Redesigns

Samsung Smart TV apps can be controlled by:

• Remote control
• Mouse
• Gestures
• Voice

Structure of the Samsung Smart TV SDK:
Samsung Smart TV SDK can be downloaded from the official SDF (Samsung Developers Forum)

It provides several tools for application development.

The following table for minimum requirements for using the SDK.
Hardware Requirements:

• Operating System :
  • Mac OS X: Intel-based hardware 10.6 and higher
  • Linux: All Linux versions that support Virtual Box 2.4.2
  • Windows: Windows 7, Windows XP
• Memory : 2GB or more
• CPU : Dual-core, 1.5 GHz or single-core 3 GHz or higher
• HDD : 5GB or more
• Screen Resolution : 1280 x 1024 or higher

Software Requirements:
For All Operating Systems

• Java 1.6 or higher

For Windows

• .NET Framework 2.0
• Latest version of Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package
• DirectX End-User Runtime

Structure of a Samsung Smart TV Application:

A Samsung Smart TV application runs on the WebKit browser engine. It means that a Smart TV application is similar to a common website based on HTML pages. Moreover, a Smart TV application has a difference from a common website; unlike a website with different resolution and keyboard and mouse input, a Smart TV application runs on fixed resolution with remote controller input. Smart TV users are already accustomed to navigating with a remote controller’s directional, Enter, and Back keys. Following image demonstrates the structural difference of a website and a TV application

Samsung Smart TV Application Resolution:

• 1920 x 1080
• 1280 x 720
• 960 x 540

Samsung Smart TV Application Types:

• Full-Screen Application: Displayed using an entire TV screen.
• Single-Wide Application: Displayed using part of a TV screen. A viewer can run this while watching a TV program.
• Ticker : It also displaying using a part of a TV screen and can run while the viewer is watching a TV program, but it is smaller than a single wide appplication.

Samsung Smart TV application development process:
Samsung provides the tools required to govern your application’s life cycle from product creation, through development and release, to application retirement. The following diagram demonstrates the process of developing a Smart TV application.

To develop a Samsung Smart TV application:

1. Plan and design your application and application UI.
2. Implement code and build.
3. Debug and test your application.
4. Package and launch your application.

Once your application has been tested and published, you can continue to manage its content by choosing to:

• Upgrade your application or
• Remove your application from Samsung Apps through the Samsung Apps Seller Office.

This article only gives you an introduction part of Samsung Smart TV. There is a lot more to explore in Samsung Smart TV. I’ll try to cover more related information in the subsequent blogs.

Thanks for reading. Happy learning!