Hillcrest Labs unveils TV Web browser

Innovative remote maker Hillcrest Labs is extending its TV navigation expertise to bring the Web to the television set with the launch of Kylo, a Web browser optimized for the TV. Unveiled at the DEMO Spring 2010 show today, the browser is designed to give those consumers who connect their laptops to the TV access to the Web, but at a couch-length viewing distance.

The majority of consumers may not want to browse the entire Web on their TV sets, but they have proven that they want to consume media on the larger screen. Pay TV providers have been trying to find a compromise for these consumers, opening up some of their content to the PC, bringing some online content to the TV and working to monetize the eyeballs in between. Hillcrest’s approach is to simply give this consumer segment free access to all media, such as games, chat and music, on any site they choose, including Hulu, Netflix and the major networks.

The free Mozilla-based Kylo browser, downloadable online, also includes an onscreen keyboard that appears whenever there’s a need to enter text. Text input can be done with the remote control, in-air mouse or Hillcrest’s own Loop remote, also in use by over-the-top TV service ZillionTV. A physical keyboard can be attached if the user prefers.

Kylo isn’t the first made-for-TV browser, but it could be one of the best, according to The Diffusion Group analyst Colin Dixon, who has been trialing the browser pre-launch. Boxee lets users browse the Web, but not with unfettered access. Opera has introduced versions for the TV, as has Sony’s Play Station 3 and the Nintendo Wii, but the experience of all three leaves a lot to be desired, he said. They are cumbersome, not optimized for the TV and often don’t support basic features like Flash. Thus far, Dixon has found Kylo’s Mozilla-based browser to be easy to install, truly open and operationally sound.

“In fairness, I am using the Hillcrest Loop with Kylo,” Dixon added. “I really recommend anybody who wants to use Kylo to get the Loop. It makes it really, really easy to navigate. If you are navigating with a standard remote, which you get with a Windows Media Center PC from across the room, that’s not so easy to do.”

A potential stumbling point for Hillcrest is that the $99 Loop remote has to be purchased separately. The company has tried in the past to work with the pay TV providers, first positioning its Loop device to them, but opening it up to direct-to-consumer sales when that route failed. It has been road-blocked by its open approach. Operators are more inclined to curate then give consumers open any form of open access, Dixon said.

On its own, Hillcrest has come a long ways in optimizing Web sites for the TV. But, just as those companies and brands that built their mobile Web sites specifically for mobile have been the most successful, there is no replacement for designing a site specifically for the TV, Dixon said, noting that some of the sites were still hard to read on Kylo.

“Ideally, what you would do is like the iPhone with pinch and stretch to zoom in and zoom out, but you can’t do that with a TV,” Dixon said. Given the limitations of the TV, he said Hillcrest did a good job enabling easy access to the media sites that consumers care the most direct on the home page with large buttons, including Hulu, Fox, Pandora and ABC. Consumers can also customize the home page with their own favorite links.

With the launch of Kylo, Hillcrest could help spur the made-for-TV browser as the next battleground in pay TV. Search giant Google has also helped to move the market along with its ambitions to sell advertising across any and all platforms. The company is reportedly working with Dish Network on an Android-powered set-top box, as well as teaming up with Intel and Sony for a Google TV platform for Internet-based TV and content. Dixon said its ambitions here are exactly the same as they were in the mobile phone space: open access. H believes that Google’s TV activities validate what Hillcrest is doing, but don’t indicate that Google has a real focus on dominating the STB market. A more likely candidate to follow Hillcrest’s lead, however, is a player like Microsoft.

“It absolutely mystifies me is why Microsoft hasn’t moved quickly to do this,” Dixon said. “They have Mediaroom and Xbox 360, an absolutely fabulous video platform. Why haven’t they done this? Consumers want to consume media there. They have proved time and again that they do. It can only be good for Microsoft the more time people spend with the Xbox. As a convergent device, it’s a fabulous platform.”