Philips/AOC and TCL will build Chromecast competitor with Firefox OS in TVs

Electronics manufacturers Philips/AOC and TCL will integrate the technology behind Matchstick, a Chromecast competitor with Firefox OS, into their TVs. This allows users to stream images to their TV without the need for a dongle or even an internet connection.

The plan mainly focuses on playing Internet videos on the TV. The technology that Matchstick uses for this is called Flint, an open source protocol for streaming content to TVs. Philips/AOC and TCL will build the necessary hardware and software for Flint into their TVs and monitors for the American market.

Flint should allow users of mobile devices including Android, iOS and Firefox OS to stream content to their TV. Now external hardware is needed for this in the form of the Matchstick. That is a dongle that needs to be in the TV, and for which Mozilla and the company behind the dongle set up a successful Kickstarter campaign last year. Flint and the Matchstick work on the basis of Firefox OS.

With Flint, Matchstick is a competitor for Google Cast, Google’s protocol that the Chromecast uses. The difference is that Flint streams directly and the TV does not need an internet connection to play the videos. The first TVs with Flint support from Philips/AOC and TCL should appear this year.