What is a Smart TV and why is it the in thing?

A smart TV is a television set that has more advanced features than traditional televisions. In the past, we had color TV sets that would depend on cable connections. However, smart TVs are run using the internet and set-top box as they come integrated with advanced internet and computing capabilities. They are unlike the conventional dish-based television sets. Smart TVs are also called informational sources, and they have computing abilities integrated into them.

It allows the user to install and run advanced applications as compared to simply switching the channels and volume via a remote control. There is also the provision to add advanced plug-ins and add-ons that depend on the platform integrated into the smart TV. Smart TVs can even run functions similar to a complete operating system or mobile operating system software and provide a stable platform for application developers.

Smart TV platforms are also known as middleware and have a public Software Development Kit (SDK) and/or Native Development Kit (NDK) for applications to enable third-party developers to develop applications for it. There is also an app store for the end-users to install and uninstall apps on their own. The public SDK further enables third-party companies and other interactive application developers to “write” applications in the first go and then test run them successfully or even officially on any device that supports the smart TV platform or middleware architecture for which it was written, regardless of the identity of the hardware manufacturer.

In the early 1980s, Japan introduced intelligent TV receivers that came with an SLI chip and memory. The intelligent TV has character generator that allowed viewers to watch a mix of programs and informational channels that were transmitted via spare lines of the broadcast television signal.

There was also another patent published in the year 1994 that was further extended the following year to introduce an”intelligent” television system that was linked with data processing systems, through a digital or analog network. An important ability was to automatically download necessary software routines, apart from the linking with the data processing systems as per the user’s demand, and to further process their needs.