A curated list of awesome resources for building Smart TV apps
Smart TV is a growing platform of TVs having access to internet and allowing to serf web-sites and install applications. It has own ecosystem with main players like Samsung, LG, Android TV and Apple TV. In this list you will find official and third-party resources for developing Smart TV apps and communicating with TV from remote devices.
Below are the most popular platforms for Smart TV. The full list is here.
- Samsung TV Developers site - News, documentation and SDK downloads.
- Tizen TV Developers site - Full API documentation and guides for developing Tizen TV apps.
- Tizen Studio - IDE for TV apps development including Tizen TV Emulator.
- Samrt View SDK - Oficcial Android, IOS and JavaScript SDK for communication between remote device and Samsung Smart TV.
- Samsung TV Developers Forum - Ask questions and share tips when developing apps with Samsung SDKs.
- samsungctl - Library and command line tool for remote controlling Samsung televisions via a TCP/IP connection. It currently supports both pre-2016 TVs as well most of the modern Tizen-OS TVs with Ethernet or Wi-Fi connectivity (Python).
- samsung-tv-remote - Node.js module to remotely control Samsung Smart TV starting from 2016 (JavaScript).
- homebridge-samsungtv2016 - Plugin for Homebridge that allows you to control your 2016 Samsung TV with HomeKit and Siri (JavaScript).
- webOS TV Developers Site - WebOS TV apps development principles, tutorials, API documentation and packaging tools.
- webOS TV IDE + SDK - IDE for apps development including a Command Line Interface and emulator.
- Connect SDK - Open source framework developed by LG that connects your mobile apps with multiple media device platforms. Currently supports 8 platforms. But seems abandoned.
- webOS TV Developers Forum - Ask questions, share information and learn about Smart TV app development with other developers.
- lgtv2 - Node.js module for remote control of LG webOS TV via WebSocket messages (JavaScript).
- node-red-contrib-lgtv - Module for Node-RED allowing remote control of LG webOS Smart TVs (JavaScript).
- node-webos - Node.js module to discover and control webOS TVs (JavaScript).
- lgtv2mqtt - Interface between LG WebOS Smart TVs and MQTT (JavaScript).
- ares-webos-sdk - webOS CLI as separate NPM module (JavaScript).
- pylgtv - Library to control webOS based LG Tv devices (Python).
- LGWebOSRemote - Command line tool for webOS remote control of LG TVs (Python).
- LG webOS communication protocol - Unofficial but detailed description of communication endpoints of webOS TV.
- LG Magic Motion Remote - Point, Click, and Control - Operate TV like a computer mouse.
- openlgtv.org.ru - A non-commercial project for legal reverse engineering and research on LG Television firmware. Seems a bit outdated but contains a lot of information.
- Android TV Developers site - Documentation, tutorials and best practises for building Android TV apps.
- tvOS Developers Site - SDK, documentation and tutorials for developing tvOS apps.
- Google Cast SDK - Official Google Cast SDK documentation and tutorials.
- TVs with Chromecast built-in - List of vendors supporting built-in Chromecast and advantages over traditional TV remote controller.
- TOAST - Samsung open-source framework for multi-platform TV apps developemnt.
- Enyo - LG framework for development apps for all major platforms, from phones and tablets to PCs and TVs.
- Smartbox - Smart TV universal library for Samsung, LG, Philips, SmartTV Aliance, STB Mag app development.
- DLNA - Industry-wide standard for sharing data over a home network. Depending on the DLNA-compatible devices you own, you might be able to stream films from your laptop to your TV, play an MP3 stored on your phone over your hi-fi system, or print a photo from your tablet on your home printer.
- DIAL - Developed by Netflix and Google, this protocol alows client devices (like smartphone, tablet, or computer) to discover apps on server devices (like a smart TV or streaming box) and launch content on them.
- Wi-Fi Direct - Standard enabling devices to easily connect with each other without requiring a wireless access point.
- Miracast - Standard for wireless connections from devices (such as laptops, tablets, or smartphones) to displays (such as TVs, monitors or projectors). Works over Wi-Fi Direct.
- LIRC - A package that allows you to decode and send infra-red signals of many (but not all) commonly used remote controls.
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