Opera Releases Toolkit for Bringing Web and Widgets to Internet-Connected TV's

Norwegian browser specialist, Opera, on Tuesday released Opera Devices SDK 10, which it bills as a complete Web technology-based toolkit for bringing the Web and widgets to TV's and other connected devices. The company says that, with the proliferation of connected TV's in the home, it is committed to delivering made-for-TV Web technology that allows for quick customization, ease-of-use for the consumer, and the ability to be ported cross-device with minimal effort.

Key features of Opera Devices SDK 10, according to the company, include:

• Hardware acceleration: the company says that the solution speeds up the rendering of Web pages, applications or UI's by taking advantage of an accelerated DirectFB driver.
• Extended support for silicon platforms: the company says that the solution has been pre-ported to such popular TV platforms as the Intel CE3100 and the STMicroelectronics ST7105 chipsets.
• Improved UI transitions and animations, thanks to CSS3 support.
• Easier on-screen navigation and improved visual presentation: the company claims that the solution "fine tunes the remote-control-to-screen relationship with more intuitive and predictive navigation."
• Standards-compliance: the company says that the solution is fully W3C-compliant, allowing customers to code applications once and then use them cross-platform or cross-device.

More information on the Opera Devices 10 SDK is available at opera.com/tv. The company says it will demo the new solution in its booth (3.C11) at the IBC show in Amsterdam later this week. "The TV experience is becoming more interactive, and Opera is playing a central role in creating that experience," Opera CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, said in a prepared statement. "With Opera Devices SDK 10, we have developed a seamless marriage of the Web and TV. Opera provides the framework for your TV experience, and with Web technology, the kind of compelling content that the consumer wants is easy to create. Moreover, we continue to work closely with the Open IPTV Forum, as we share common strategic goals: lower the integration cost, speed up time-to-market for IPTV services, and enable choice for consumers."

In related news: Opera will today announce a collaboration with Bristol, UK-based digital TV software provider, Ocean Blue Software, to deliver an integrated DVB Web-based solution for offering advanced digital TV capabilities, such as Internet-based streaming of TV content. The collaboration sees Ocean Blue integrating the Opera Devices SDK into its Sunrise DVB software stack. This, the companies say, will allow Ocean Blue to supply customers with a turnkey Internet TV solution offering advanced functionality in a time- and cost-effective manner.

According to the companies, as a result of their partnership Ocean Blue customers will be able to produce solutions for set-top boxes and integrated digital TV sets with full Web browsing capability, allowing access to such sites as YouTube and Flickr alongside the linear broadcast. Thanks to the Opera Devices SDK, the companies say, this will all be delivered via a consistent user interface, regardless of the content delivery platform being used. "Ocean Blue's products and the Opera Devices SDK are at the forefront of digital TV experience," Ocean Blue CEO, Ken Helps, said in a prepared statement. "The integration of both technologies will provide consumers with a greater choice of TV content and Internet functionality. We can now offer a compelling end-user experience, delivering Internet and broadcast content in a seamless manner." Added Christophe Vuillot, Opera's director of product management for mobile and devices: "Our partnership with Ocean Blue Software addresses the promise of a seamless and elegant integration of both IP and DTV 'worlds' in hybrid TV's and set-top boxes, one of the key elements that will bring the best of the Web right into the living room." The companies say that a demo of their joint solution will be on display (Stand 5, A12) at the IBC show in Amsterdam later this week.