I'm building a TV application using a framework called TAL (TV Application Layer), which is a Javascript framework for building an HTML5 based TV app.
I can run my application on localhost and test it in my browser. I can also test the app quite easily on the Amazon Fire TV using Amazon's Web App Tester tool, which accesses the web app running on my computer via my WiFi network and then runs it on the TV.
However, I'm struggling to find a general approach to test this app on other set top boxes or smart TVs.
Do I have to download the SDK for each individual device and package it up somehow? If so, what is the general approach for this?
The documentation from individual manufacturers only seems to focus on using their SDK to build the app, and doesn't offer support about an HTML5 app that you've created yourself.
As I'm just starting out on this, any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated.
If the TV and your dev machine are on the same network you should find out the internal ip-address for your dev machine. On OS X and Linux you can type ifconfig in the terminal. Look for a line that looks like this:
inet addr:10.2.0.15 Bcast:10.2.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
The addr: part lists your ip address. In this case it would be 10.2.0.15.
If you type this ip address into the address bar of your smart tv browser you should be able to view your website on the Smart tv.
I'm not sure about actual apps for the TV, I do think it will be different for each brand and that you will have to package it up individually.