Java TV is a
Java-based
software framework
In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software, providing generic functionality, can be selectively changed by additional user-written code, thus providing application-specific software. It provides a standard ...
designed for use on TV
set-top boxes, based on components called
Xlets. It is currently used only on the
Connected Device Configuration, specifically for
iTV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
applications development.
The API includes the Xlet classes in the package javax.tv.xlet. Other packages of the public API include
# javax.tv.graphics - provides a simple rendering canvas
# javax.tv.locator - provides a locator in the style of a
URL
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed as a web address, is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifie ...
for services and media, such as service:/SERV1
# javax.tv.service - defines a mechanism for service information (SI) databases and APIs representing the SI elements, such as the TV channels and media available for playback.
Criticisms
While the framework is general, Sun currently provides support only on
Java ME. For some subjects, such as media locators, it is in effect superseded by other locator standards on platforms such as
BD-J.
A point of confusion is that in platforms supported as of 2008, examples such as the SvcDispXlet example from the introduction to the API, written circa 2001, are not deployable because it uses
AWT widgets such a
java.awt.Button Most iTV platforms, along with BD-J, implement Personal Basis Profile with no AWT widgets, as opposed to Personal Profile which includes the widgets.
Sun's reference implementation for Java TV attempts to limit its exposure to support issues to the full
Java Media Framework by having its own small version of JMF that is internally referred to as "jmflite". As with the limitations of the
MIDP emulators that Sun provides, the Java TV reference implementation provided by Sun has not been updated to make provisions for later JDK's such as removing calls to Thread.stop(). The Thread.stop() method was made a "final" method in Java 1.5 (meaning that classes which extend Thread and override stop() will fail at runtime under JRE 1.5 when the class is loaded). This implies that Sun has not yet committed to public plans or a roadmap for taking Java ME beyond JRE 1.3. If such an upgrade were to take place, it would require significant work on the part of all vendors of Java ME-enabled devices.
Why Are Thread.stop, Thread.suspend, Thread.resume and Runtime.runFinalizersOnExit Deprecated?
/ref>
See also
* Xlet
External links
Java ME Technology - Java TV API
- includes Sun's Reference Implementation
Java TV API 1.1 (JSR-927) online Javadocs
The JavaTV tutorial
References
{{Java (Sun)
Interactive television
Java (programming language)
Java device platform
Set-top box