Main Page/Cloud Browser TF/Specs/TVControlAPI
TV Control API Specification
This specification provides an API to web-based applications and enables them to
- control and switch the TV sourcing based on channel identifiers
- provide EPG type of information, including the list of TV programs and related information
- interact with TV platform for presenting the TV program appropriately
- interact with TV platform for presenting other supplemental content appropriately
- overlay the channels and supplemental information in a hybrid broadcast/broadband environment
More info can be found here
Addressed Use-Cases
This API addresses the following Use-Cases that are also relevant to the Cloud Browser TF, see also Use-Cases.
Tuner
- Tune to a broadcast channel
- Retrieve meta info of tuner
- Number of tuners currently installed
- Broadcasting type of each tuner (terrestrial, cable, satellite, ...)
- Broadcasting protocol of each tuner (DVB, ATSC, ISDB, ...)
- Streaming signal strength of the the tuner(s)
- Notify on tuner changes (hot-plug detection)
Tuner Channel Scan
- User can initiate a scan for available channels on the tuner
- Notify about found channels during scan, tell also the signal strength
- Provide indication of progress during scan
- User can abort in-progress scan
- Notify on completion
Channel
- Retrieve meta info of channel
- Number of channels that have already been scanned
- Broadcasting type of each channel (TV, radio)
- Logical Channel Number(LCN) of each channel
- Name of each channel ("BBC", "CCN")
- Switch channel
- Switch video/audio/text tracks of the channel that is currently displaying
- List available channels (sorted/unsorted, parental control, start time, ..)
- Channel up or down based on current channel
Program
- Retrieve meta info of program
- Number of programs
- Title, start time, duration, description, language, rating, classification, ... of each program
- Languages, subtitles, codecs, quality of video and audio
EPG
- Retrieve EPG info for a given channel or time period
- Let the user navigate through the EPG and directly select a program to watch
- Let the user browse through the list of other programs while (s)he is watching a program
Accessibility
- Enable/disable display of subtitles
- Enable/disable playback of supplementary audio streams (audio description)
Recording
- Record program by programs unique identifier
- Record series-linked programs
- Provide info / Playback / delete / apply parental control
Time Shifting
- Pause a live program and resume playback later
Emergency Broadcasting
- Notify on emergency broadcasting
Parental Control
- Provide info whether channel is locked or not
- Let the user unlock protected channels by entering a password
Media element
- List / select track(s), subtitle(s), audio
Notes
- Most API results are enclosed in a JavaScript Promise which can help in implementation, like getTuners().