Lumio is pushing television discovery into the chat apps people already use every day. With Project Neo, users of Lumio Vision TV can search for movies and series through WhatsApp and Instagram instead of relying on a traditional remote.
The feature is now available in public beta in India and is built to reduce the friction that often comes with typing titles on a TV screen. Lumio says the goal is to make finding something to watch feel more like a conversation than a menu search.
Search by message, not by remote
Project Neo is integrated into Lumio’s TLDR app, which acts as the bridge between chat and television. Users can send natural-language messages in English, Hindi, or Hinglish to look up films and shows.
The system is designed to understand more than exact titles. Viewers can search by actor, director, genre, language, mood, or even a partial plot they only remember loosely.
| Project Neo Capability | What Users Can Do |
|---|---|
| WhatsApp and Instagram search | Send natural-language messages to find films and TV shows |
| Flexible query options | Search by title, actor, director, genre, language, mood, or partial story detail |
| Recommendation support | Get suggestions for trending content across supported streaming platforms |
| Instagram sharing | Share Reels, posts, posters, or screenshots to identify a movie or series |
That approach is aimed at a common viewing problem: people often know what they want to watch, but not the exact details needed to type into a search bar. In that situation, a short chat message is far easier than entering text through a TV interface.
Instagram is now part of the discovery path
One of Project Neo’s most notable features is its Instagram integration. If a user finds a Reel, post, movie poster, or screenshot related to a title, the content can be shared directly to Neo.
Lumio’s system then identifies the film or series and sends the result to the connected Lumio Vision TV. That removes the extra step of manually searching again after seeing something interesting on social media.
A smoother path from recommendation to playback
According to Lumio, Project Neo is meant to close the gap between discovering a recommendation and actually starting playback on the TV. The company is targeting the moment when a film suggestion appears in a chat or on social media, but still has to be typed in again on the television.
By moving that context into the TV experience, Lumio is trying to make the set-top process feel less disconnected from the way people already talk about entertainment on their phones. The company is also positioning the TV as part of a broader mobile-first ecosystem rather than a standalone screen.
Public beta is already rolling out
For now, Project Neo is being rolled out as a public beta for Lumio Vision TV users across India. That means the feature is already live, but still expected to improve as user feedback comes in.
Lumio says the platform will continue to evolve based on how people use it in daily life. Even in beta form, the feature points to a larger shift in smart TV design, where the first step to watching something may begin in a chat thread instead of on the television itself.
Source: www.gizmochina.com
