LG Electronics and TiVo said they will bring Adobe Systems' Air -- a superset of the software company's Flash Player aimed at rapid development -- to their connected-TV devices, while programmers including VH1 and Epix touted apps they have written for Air.
Adobe Air is designed to let developers to reuse existing Web code to create standalone applications across devices and platforms. At the 2011 CES in January, Samsung Electronics announced it would be the first partner to bring Air to TV platforms.
LG plans to bring incorporate Air into LG "smart TVs" in 2012. TiVo said Air will "give us the tools to deliver better functionality, more features and a rich, seamless experience that our users expect from TiVo products," vice president and general manager of product marketing Jim Denney said in a statement.
VH1 has developed an I Love the 80's trivia game using Adobe Air, while Epix -- the movie joint venture from Lionsgate, MGM and Paramount Pictures -- is using the platform to deliver a video player experience to connected devices.
"Adobe Air helps us deliver thousands of full-length movies in high definition to a wide range of screens on Internet-connected TVs as well as desktop and mobile," Epix chief digital officer Emil Rensing said in a statement.
The companies made the announcement at Adobe's MAX 2011 technology conference Monday in Los Angeles.
"TVs and other connected devices in the digital living room are the next frontier for rich entertainment apps," said Danny Winokur, vice president and general manager of Adobe's Platform division. "Flash-based applications are transforming content consumption on TVs as developers embrace new opportunities to deliver beautiful HD content to increasingly powerful digital home devices connected to a big screen."
Adobe also announced that Flash Player 11 and Air 3, which include support for accelerated graphics and HD video support across all platforms, will become publicly available at 12 a.m. Eastern time Monday.
Among other features, Air 3 is designed to bring advanced features to TVs including full hardware-accelerated rendering for 2D and 3D graphics to enable "console-quality gaming applications," as well as support for Dolby and DTS 7.1 channel surround sound.
