NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV Pro Streaming Media Player; 4K HDR
NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV Pro Streaming Media Player; 4K HDR Movies, Live Sports, Dolby Vision-Atmos, AI-Enhanced Upscaling, GeForce NOW Cloud Gaming, Google Assistant Built-In, Works with Alexa
Google Assistant Built-in
Control your SHIELD hands-free with Google Home or Alexa and Amazon Echo.
Chromecast 4K Built-in
Cast your favorite apps, photos, and videos from your mobile device to your TV.
Play the Latest Games
Games for everyone , on Google Play Games and GeForce NOW*, including AAA games like Fortnite.
*Game controller sold separately
| Weight: | 249 g |
| Dimensions: | 15.9 x 9.8 x 2.6 cm; 249.48 Grams |
| Brand: | NVidia |
| Model: | 945-12897-2505-101 |
| Colour: | Black/Green |
| Batteries Included: | Yes |
| Manufacture: | NVIDIA |
| Dimensions: | 15.9 x 9.8 x 2.6 cm; 249.48 Grams |
I had all of them: all Amazon sticks, cubes etc, Google products, formuler and various random chinese android boxes. This is by far the best streamer with tons of possibilities to tweak it to your needs. Nothing really comes close tbh. The Amazon cubes are great but they suck due to the constant ads, restrictions with every new update. This is apparently 10y old hardware but still super fast.the Amazon, Google products just stutter after a while.
Performance is really good.
Apps load fast.
I only use it on a 1080 TV but the video quality is superp.
The ergonomics of the remote is well thought out and fits nicely in the hand.
Being able to program the Netflix button is great.
There is at least one disappointing aspect. A couple of on demand streaming services I used to use with cheaper Android boxes are not supported. This isn’t Nvidia’s fault. The app developers need to get their rears in gear. But that said, there are plenty of other choices available that work perfectly.
Pairing this device with a Wireless Logitech keyboard is a perfect match.
I honestly cannot find any problem with this TV box and only wish I had bought one sooner rather than waste money on cheaper, inferior products that are intended to do a similar job.
I’ve not tried playing any games on it and probably won’t simply because of time constraints. That said, I am sure using it tp play games will not disappoint.
Has all the options you need to get the best picture quality and perfect Dolby sound, supports Dolby vision, HDR 10+ and all the 4K to 720p needs.
I don’t use this for gaming or as a Plex server, so I can’t comment on those features.
Very expensive but now I have it, I wouldn’t want to do without it.
Superb remote.
Incredibly responsive, more so than my Apple TV 4K.
Both on par with each other but 2 totally different internal architectures.
If you love Android TV then this is the best.
First of all, it’s a sleek looking box that has two USB 3.0 connections and immediately recognised my hard drive – it didn’t need any formatting or software and just worked. Set up was very easy as was the downloading of apps – the one thing I would say is that the Android store isn’t full and there are quite a few missing. That said, the box is easy to side-load with apps and these worked immediately (there’s some very good tutorials explaining how to do this). I set up Plex immediately and, again relying on tutorials, cracked this excellent bit of software quickly. I was soon using the Shield as a network device for my media and was very happy with the speed and response. The Toblerone shaped remote is surprisingly ergonomic and feels good in the hand – Mrs Pugh immediately noticed how responsive it was.
The biggest selling point for me, apart from the freedom regarding apps and settings, was the AI-picture enhancer. I could write a long article on this, but others go into it with much more knowledge so I will not go overboard. Needless to say, the 4k enhancer is superb and among the best bits of image processing I’ve ever seen. Other processing software items tend to over-emphasise pseudo-HDR, meaning that older films get this strange, bright, noisy picture that is trying to look modern. As I have an OLED, this look especially bad and as I am evangelical about deep black levels, having this fake, LED wannabe brightness has never impressed me. So when Nvidia claim that this can enhance 1080p to 4k, I was dubious. However, I was VERY impressed! I tried it on films where dark scenes have sudden bursts of light, ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Aliens’ and the like’, and the result was superb. My wife’s K-Dramas have never looked better with detail that look native; it really did wow me with how it enhanced so many different kinds of pictures. That, in itself, makes it worth investment. However, if you are a gamer, there is also the Nvidia App which apparently allows you to play higher end games on it – that gives some idea of the processing power it has. I thought long and hard about buying this, but I’m so glad I spent the cash – it’s added a new dimension to the viewing of films and television and even the sound processing is a big step up.
It plays anything I play on it, has access to every streaming service I need, and unlike others, has options for nearly any setting I need to adjust.
A dedicated ethernet port is worth it for larger video playback, but the WiFi is great on it also and holds up well in the same room as the router.
As an android device, anything on the playstore is open for install, games, services, apps and VPNs.
It is essentially a small computer, and is a massive step up from any stick due to its range of I/O options, and it’s built in fan, with adjustable speed, keeps it cool, an issue I kept encountering with streaming sticks behind the TV with no airflow.
If any complaints, I wish it came with 60Hz Dolby Vision profile, it only comes with <24Hz, which makes the navigation appear sluggy, however as you can add the Dolby Vision profile to the quick options menu, doesn't really hurt too much as you can turn it off and on within seconds.
Finally, the AI upscaling is a pleasant addition. Although my LG C1 does a good job at basic upscaling to 4K, the Shield does do a much better job with the older DVD quality content I play through it. The upscaling does appear to be more of a simple sharpening filter, and struggles with interlaced content in my experience, but is more of a use case scenario as I mostly watch 1080p and 4K content through it.
This is my second Nvidia Shield to purchase! My first one ( 6yrs. old) finally gave up! It’s not CHEAP , but highly rated as the best Streaming Box out there, and as a Gaming platform! It takes time to ” set” up, but you wont regret it ! its also constantly ” updated ” , so you allways have the latest hardware!
All modern TV’s are unable to handle true DV / HDR effectively. If you have these sorts of files there is no better media player to handle them.
The Shield TV pro beautifully handles all file formats. The best players I have found are Vimu Media Plater (paid for) and Just Player.
With Earc it handles Dolby Vision with my Lg G2, and Dolby Atmos with my Q990C perfectly.
This box however is just brilliant and had totally changed our tv experience. I have it running with implayer iptv as well as the usual Netflix prime disney+.
The interface is sleek and fast and I love the fact that we have iptv channels on the home screen plus our favorites showing. Also has plex pre-installed working perfectly.
There’s no lag ot just works.
I have no reservations recommending this unit.
Plug-in an external ssd drive and you just open up a whole new experience.
I bought this to serve as a Plex Media Server, but I could not get it to work.
This is not necessarily a minus, as a media centre it’s probably fine, it just did not meet my needs.
It’s a small, good-looking unit and the led on the top isn’t at all intrusive. It also operates our Panasonic TV far more reliably than Virgin’s media box did.
Things I don’t like? The UI could be more configurable and the remote could have a better layout. Although it connects to both Alexa and Google we haven’t figured out how to get much voice control yet. TBH, the remote does fine for everything and I like that it has a find my remote function.
Other than that everything works smoothly, connecting to services was a doddle after the initial setup. It will update itself as soon as it connects to the internet and it takes a looong time. Worse, the screen just goes black and you’re left, literally, in the dark about what’s happening. I had to call Nvidia customer care after leaving it overnight (on 130mb internet connection) as I thought it had bricked. They were great and very helpful with surprisingly quick response which bodes well for any future issues if they arise. Once it was finished, though, no issues. I’d recommend giving it a reset occasionally to clear the cache and keep it running at its best.
I haven’t tried the gaming features as my PC has been out. I’m sure it’ll be fun, though.
absolutely love this kit, it integrates smoothly to an older TV, you can use one remote control for everything, it is just best upgrade to have to turn old TV to a modern smart TV set.
forget firestick go all in on this. easy set up and flawless performance and streaming. if your tired of buffering this and want a seamless experience then invest in this and you wont regret i
Went from smart tv (LG) plex app plus youtube, to the shield and it makes a WORLD of difference. Made using plex so much nicer and plus the ability to sideloads apps makes this perfect for those wanting to “cut the chords” from many paid services.
If like me, you’re probably weighing up the options of going for a 30 Android TV box or this, and if price is the deal-breaker, fine. But if you want a device that is fast, reliable, responsive and packed with more features, find that bit extra and go for the Shield. I wish I’d done it much sooner.
This is undoubtedly the best streaming box out there and I have tried several of them over the years, all have suffered from some extend to buffering or slow speed streaming regardless of Ethernet connection or Wi-Fi, this box is the daddy of them all. If you know what your looking for and what a Android box is capable of, then you will know what I mean! If your even seriously thinking of this box then get it you will not regret it, yes it’s expensive but it blows even the latest streaming devices out of the water.10/10
It is most certainly an excellent product. It really is a step above the others. However, especially considering the price, they do not include an HDMI cable. Even the much lower priced alternatives supply a cable. Yes. I do recommend it.
Anything you play below 720p will most certainly make a larger difference than playing it with other tv boxes/media players, however it cannot perform miracles 😀
All in all, been using it for more than a year and have no complaints at all. New one must be coming out soon, so you might even find this one on a hefty discount. Cannot recommend enough.
Nvidia users will know that this box of tricks is the best you can get. Buy once and don’t waste money on cheaper devices. Or perhaps do buy and go through all the others and then you will appreciate why his box is the best money can buy…..
It is a great spec box and works really well with my setup. It’s responsive and the controller is really nice to use. You can easily access all of the features and it isn’t blocked behind some bloatware.
I wasn’t too fussed for the gaming services but I tried it and it is disappointing how they have removed their game service. You can game stream but I tried and was disappointed.
The stock launcher has adverts. It’s annoying and honestly unacceptable given the price you pay for the unit. I installed a third party launcher to get rid of this but I really shouldn’t have to.
I believe the FireTV cube is similar in spec. But it is preference.
The shield (pro, v2, whatever) is expensive and overpowered for a tv box alone, but it does bring video upscaling to the party which none of the competition do. There are reports that some people have issues with the AI upscale causing stutters, I have never seen it happen and its been my go to device for all my media consumption from the day I got it.
Its not my first rodeo with android boxes, and this has been almost unbelievably good at everything I need from it with none of the issues previous android boxes gave me.
On the retro gaming front, There are retro games systems running perfectly on the shield that other android boxes struggle to even run, much less run well, The ppsspp emulator is a big one of those. Ppsspp runs faultlessly on the shield, as do the many other emulators. Those that I can confirm are working flawlessly include atari lynx, vcs/2600, 800, 5200, 7800, ST, sinclair spectrum, nintendo gameboy,gameboy colour, gameboy advance, sega sg1000, master system, megadrive, gamegear, nintendo nes, famicon, snes, nec pc engine, neogeo, magnavox odyssey, Sony psx, playstation portable, Mame 2000,2003, commodore 64, Amiga, Bandai wonderswan and Milton Bradley Vectrex. There are numerous others, but those already mentioned are confirmed working and are easily run through Retroarch 64 on the shield. They are obviously not native to the system, so you may need to source BIOS files for some machines emulated and it is worth having a keyboard for some of the computer emulation. Note that BIOS files are copyrighted, as are most of the games these emulators run, apart from the Vectrex which was thrown into the public domain when it reached the end of its shelf life. The only one of the many you will likely expect to work that could be an issue is the n64, at time of writing I dont think theres an emulator that is ratified for the shield.
When it comes to initial setup, Setting up the shield is a breeze, even easier if you have an android phone as it can grab all the network and app settings from the phone as the shield is an android unit itself. Storage on the shield isnt great, being only 16gb, But you do have 2 usb expansion ports. Add an external drive or a usb stick for more storage if needed (no micro sd card facility on the V2 shield unfortunately). External storage can be just plug in and remove for transfer to a pc etc, or you can let the shield format it as ‘internal’ memory. If you take that internal memory option you need to think of it as being fixed to the shield and not removable as setting it to internal storage will remove the option to store files on the usb for transfer to pc as the computer won’t recognise the file structure, so choose wisely.
A word of warning on using usb thumb drives on the shield. If plugged directly into the shield they run hot, Very hot. Even with the shield in standby any usb thumb drive left in the shield was getting uncomfortably hot. After trying 2 brand new (different but well known brand) new usb thumb drives and finding how hot they both got, I did some research and found the only way to prevent the heat issue was to use a usb hub. Having added a hub, drives both perform normally when connected to the hub and at most get warm during actual use like any other thumb drive when accessing a lot of data. There are plenty of people out there that have had thumb drives fail after relatively short periods (months not years) when plugged straight into the shield and left in place, so adding a cheap hub between the drive and shield will save you suffering the same fate. If I hadn’t been removing the usb to add stuff to it from the pc I would never have noticed the problem and am convinced the excessive heat would have drastically reduced the life of my thumb drive. Neither the hub nor either drive have shown any heat issues since the hub was added.
In terms of media, the shield will easily run a plex setup if that’s your thing. It can also play movies stored on the usb drive or from internal memory. Kodi? No problem, and All the usual apps like netflix, prime etc, along with access to the google store for more. Vpn software runs fine and generally the shield is faultless, Except if you are in the UK and want channel 4 catchup. There is no official app for it on the shield platform, though there is at least one alternative that be sideloaded to bring c4, c5 and more back into play on the shield but that’s something you need to look for yourself and needs to be installed from a 3rd party source.
Control of the box has numerous options beyond the supplied remote including bluetooth games controllers, keyboards etc, but also an android phone app for controlling the shield. If you install the shield app on your phone you can not only control the shield from your phone itself, but can even find your remote if its gone awol down the back of a cushion as you can use the phone to tell the remote to sound a noise for thirty seconds at a time.
As to the remote, it is an odd toblerone shape that lights up when you pick it up, it’s a weird feel at first with an equally odd button layout, but you get used to it fairly quickly. It has a dedicated netflix button, but if you dont have netflix there is a piece of software called button mapper that lets you completely disable it, or change its use to a short press, double press and long press so you can launch any one of 3 apps from that one button when needed. I accidentally press that button a lot when trying to turn down the volume, so consider button mapper if you don’t want to keep launching netflix by accident.
The shield pro V2 came out in 2019 and hasn’t had an upgraded hardware revision since, which unbelievably is still a good thing as any new version would likely be running the latest firmware. When set up, I would highly suggest disabling auto firmware updates. Chances are it will download an update as soon as it sees your network, If it does you will get an ‘install fw update’ message on the home screen. Personally, I would ignore that update if I were you, and be aware that the update prompt can be switched off in the settings to never show up again if you want to avoid any accidental update later. The reason for not updating and crippling updates? Simply put? it’s Google. The latest firmware has google ads baked in. I dont want ads for disney etc on my box, I dont want any ads at all in fact, especially when this is a premium box so to my mind should have no forced ads as it was first released without such intrusions. But nvidia succumbed to corporate greed in tying their latest updates into this google BS and should hang their heads in shame for foisting it upon users in their latest updates. Stay on the firmware it came with and avoid the ads. If the thought of ads doesn’t bother you then update away, I have found only one potential downside to not updating, and that is casting from your phone to the shield as the chromecast on the phone doesn’t trust the shields outdated profile. But considering the shield can do all the heavy lifting itself? Then casting from a phone seems superfluous.
For a games controller I use an 8bitdo pro controller,, and like everything else it has been faultless on the shield. So to sum up, the ONLY operating negatives in the real world with the box are, no official channel4/5, the chromecast issue on older firmware, and having to avoid the latest firmware update to avoid google ads. It’s worth noting that updating to the latest firmware also causes some emulators to fail as well, so if gaming is a thing to you, then again, avoid the updates. There is one thing I really don’t like though, the power adapter is proprietary. It looks like a USB C connector but it isn’t. Don’t go ruining the port and potentially the shield by forcing a usb C connector in the power socket. If you are 50/50 on buying it, don’t give it another thought and buy it, this box is awesome and worth every penny it cost. Yes, it could be cheaper, but if you want a seriously good android media device, this is it.
Great selection of media apps, continues to have system updates and frequent updates/improvements to apps.
Needs a reboot roughly weekly.
Picture and sound quality very good. Seems to support Dolby atmos, HD10, 4K, HD, UPGRADES MOST HD Video to 4K with good effect.
Used since 1st November 2020, very reasonable and stable, Apps have improved system standards are supported, and keep improving – Apple TV and SKY NOWTV are very stable as has Disney become so reliable now.
Good audio source from 4K UHD be on es excellent movie experience with good amp and speakers. I have Sonos beam, sub, two ones which gives 5.1 that is effective.
OTHERS SAT SKY NOWTV! DOES NOT WORK BUT IT HAS FOR LAST 18 MONTHS, initially a bit sketchy but really good for last 12 months.
That being said, now it is all up and running it’s absolutely fantastic. I’m not a gamer so use it just for streaming TV and movies. Even though I only have a 32inch 1080 bravia TV the improvement in picture quality is really noticeable. Having tweaked a few settings to get the best performance the Shield goes like the clappers. Everything is so much more responsive. Movies and TV channels connect much faster and I’m also getting hardly any buffering. Also with the aid of an HDMI capture card and a free app called OBS Studio I can even connect it to my PC and screen capture whatever I want to watch things later. Via the X-plore app I have connected to both my 1GB Onedrive account as well as my NAS which has monster hard drives so the Shield has access to plenty of external storage which really helps for adding stuff to my personal media library or sideloading APK’s.
There may be a few more expensive media streaming boxes out there which perhaps have their own internal hard drive but they cant compete with the storage on my NAS. Despite not having a hardware upgrade since 2019 so as far as I can see, for pure streaming the Shield Pro still seems to be the best device out there.
The autoframe rate doesn’t work with prime video and you have to map a button on the remote so when you wach a movie you press it and id matches the original frame rate.
Apps are not that optimised.
I liked the build in chrome cast , it works fine, you can cast amazon music with Dolby atmos, but only if you cast from your phone! If you stream directly from the shield amazon music you won’t get dolby atmos.
It is a shame that they don’t optimise and update the apps for this device, it’s so capable.
Apple tv 4k 2022 its the way to go!
I had the shield tv , the fire stick 4k max and i chose the apple tv.
It has a very powerful chip, all apps are working perfect and so litning fast!
It has amazon music, Spotify, tidal and refresh rate auto mach working with all streaming devices. Not to say that apple tv + has all the movies encoded in dolby atmos and uhd! On prime or google tv same movies are or only hd or uhd and only some of them dolby atmos encoded at the same price . I was never an apple fan but the device its wll you need for streamign all platforms including streaming music if you have i high end avr with high end speakers.
I’m not advertising the apple tv here, i only want to help people like me choose the right streaming device without needing to test them all like i did.
If you’re looking for a simple plug and play device, android TV app support may leave you wanting, but if you have the technical and troubleshooting chops to poke around a bit, you will find a really flexible device that will do loads of awesome stuff.
I got the shield to serve two purposes. The first and main reason was as an upgrade to the older steam link to stream games from upstairs, and the second was to have one device that can pretty much do everything we need it to media-wise.
As a gaming device the Shield will deliver 4k 60fps with 5.1 surround sound from my high-end gaming PC upstairs over an Ethernet cable no problem at all. I use both the Steam Link app and the third party Moonlight app to do this.
Geforce now is also pretty nifty, but I only have the free version owing to the input lag of purely cloud gaming making it only really useful for demoing games you have interest in.
On the TV side of things. I set up VLC with access to a shared media folder on my PC so that I can stream downloaded content over the local network – which again streams with no problems with surround sound working fine. I know there are more impressive solutions for this like the included plex, but I rarely watch TV or movies and so this simple method suited my needs just fine.
My girlfriends main concern was getting the streaming services she uses on the Shield, and this mostly worked fine. All the apps we wanted were easy to grab with the exception of All 4 and SoundCloud which do not have Android TV versions. For most people this wouldn’t be a big deal as the shield can be casted to, and so those apps you can just cast the content from your phone. But my girlfriend wanted a more comprehensive solution as she prefers browsing content on the TV instead of locating it on her phone and casting (fair enough).
Android TV has its limitations in that not all the apps you would get on android phones will appear in the google play store as they aren’t supported (IE, the developers dont care). Fortunately installing apps using .apk files is super easy, (look up side-loading) and you can try your luck downloading the .apk files of android phone apps and installing them to see if they work. I was able to get All 4 working this way (even if the menu is in the wrong aspect ratio, content is fine) and I managed to get soundcloud working using a web-browser app and just pointing it to the website.
Web browsing is actually totally workable as the shield supports mouse and keyboard devices, and the ability to side-load apps means I can install SmartTube to replace YouTube (its a youtube app which blocks the ads).
The tegra chip inside the Shield also makes it a formidable emulation device and I’ve tested a PS1 emulator with great success. The only downside here is the on-board storage is only 12gb usable, which is super limited for things like PS1 games.
The only other downside is the ads on the main menu. I know there is a solution to switch out the app launcher and thus get rid of the ads, but I have yet to find a solution for this.
In short:
– It streams games great
– It’s got all of the streaming services we use (with a little bit of techie magic)
– It can browse the web and handle web streaming services like soundcloud etc if you need it to
– It supports third party android applications like SmartTube via side-loading
– It emulates like a pro
– People can cast to it
– It streams content over the LAN with ease
– Extensive blutetooth support for mice, keyboards, and games controllers
– It’s got an awesome remote shaped like a Toblerone
– The way it can control your TV means you can ditch your TV remote and go all-in with the Toblerone.
– Small internal storage is problematic for larger game ROM or app collections, and the only way to expand it is via USB memory stick (i would’ve liked a memory card slot)
– Ads on the main menu are frankly unacceptable for a device of this price, but this isn’t worth knocking off a star and can be overcome, I just haven’t figured out how yet.
Apps,
The good apps store linked to the device does not have all the apps yea that is correct the apps listed are compatible apps.
However this product does run android and you can load other apps on the unit, it’s one of the wonderful things about this product.
Its called side loading and will add its for those that understand such things although frankly anyone can watch a YouTube video on the subject.
So don’t be put off by those that do not understand this remains the best device in it’s class.
If you don’t need the advanced features or are not interested in quality as car as image and sound then by competitors product for simplicity but note none are as good as this product and suggest some detailed research and understanding more about what you are trying to achieve and the real life limitations of her devices.
That said many people will.be happy with lesser types of device including the apple tv 4k.
The shield tv has always been a firm favourite of mine, most people don’t understand what it can do and much of the features are hidden in the spec sheets.
Both the original and this new one offer atmos and can stream lossless audio and high bitrate video, there are few in the market that can do what these units can not even the apple devices or fire tv and certainly not roku, so if your serious about quality sonyourawlf a favor and dig deeper into the specs and watch some detailed videos before you buy an alternative.
The new unit offers dolby vision to compatible devices from dolby vision enabled uhd sources.
It was Ai scaling which certainly works for 480p 720p and 1080p scallind well to 4k.
The unit has a nice new control and it takes aaa batteries which is good news.
If you want a device with the extra features above or makes sense however other than the above and a small let’s say 16% increase in speed there is little difference in real life use when compared to the older model.
If like me you would like a picture upgrade to your old tv with hdmi then pairing this with a hdfury arcana can give the picture a boost but beware if you go down this path you will if using an older amplifier need an earc extractor as well to get audio to your amp.
If your luck enough to have a a sonos arc then pairing your shield tv with a hdfury arcana and the sonos will give you a great picture.
For those with more modern tvs is the shield tv an upgrade to your built in roku or android system the answer has to be a definitive yes but depends on what you watch and if you like uhd or 4k in its best quality.
The unit supports plex server and some may find this useful and can say historically other services like Emby are better but only supported as an app, don’t expect to stream multiple feeds around your house and we prefer the streming services such as Amazon video, Disney and Netflix and we can now all benefit by using a device like the shield tv to give us the best quality irrelevant of the age of your TV through these services.
Always check compatibility.
In summary, unless you need Colby vision and a nice controller and need to upscale 480p 720p 1080p and do not subscribe to a uhd streaming service hence the above of value you may of you already own a 2015 model find upgrade pointless.
If you can find a reason as detailed above or money isn’t an issue them this new version is highly recommended.
I have researched the Shield via YouTube so had a good idea what was required when unboxing. First off, ease of setting up. Virtually worked straight out of the box, just needed one update. Next, the picture settings. I used the max AI settings which promised upscaling to 4K. Then signed into Google, downloaded the apps I wanted from the Play Store. Signed into Disney and clicked on a Star Wars movie. WOW! The picture and sound quality was totally breathtaking! Crystal clear picture. I am yet to dabble with Dolby Atmos.
Its been a week now, and I honestly haven’t anything bad to say about the Nvidia Shield. Its beyond what I expected as an upgrade to my old and tired MX boxes. I’ve even been able to sideload some apps I wanted and these are working perfectly. The only negative I can think of is that there is no apps for All4 and Britbox. A bit of a let down, but the Shield is primarily for my own media TV app and Disney, so no problem with the missing two apps.
To finish, the Nvidia Shield is well worth the extra cash and for me, totally superior to anything else on the market at the moment. I’m going to purchase another one for the bedroom, I’m that satisfied with it.
PS: So many bad reviews regarding the Nvidia Shield and using media apps like Netflix and Ipeeteevee via it, most stating they experience buffering, freezing etc . I bet you a chocolate bar, the majority who experience this use their Shield wirelessly. A wired device is your best friend when streaming. Wireless, regardless of the speed of your internet coming into your house can be utter pants if you have multiple wireless devices using your router at the same time. Wired is best for streaming!
As the Shield TV Pro has an onboard fan keeping the components cool, a wired ethernet connection, and can have two USB storage devices plugged into it to expand the memory, I thought it would be the perfect solution to the problems I have had with my Fire Stick.
Sadly not – the Shield TV pro will not even let you download the Amazon Music app from the Google Play store (unless you live in the USA, apparently) – which just seems hugely moronic to me, as I have just processed a return for the nvidia Shield TV Pro just now, entirely because it will not let me use my Amazon Music account/App directly on it. Seemed like a nice device, but entirely useless for my primary purpose for buying it.
It can’t be a legal issue as I can use the Amazon Music app on my other Android/Windows devices, so I suspect it’s just blocked on GoogleTV interfaces (like the Shield has), maybe because Google would rather you were using YouTube Music instead – but as a Prime and Amazon Music Unlimited Subscriber I’m not switching, especially as all my friends who used to be on Google Music have just been forced over to YouTube Music by Google, and they all say it’s awful (and all my friends and family members on iTunes and Apple devices seem to moan non-stop about those these days, so I’m sticking with Amazon Music and Android devices).
Sure, you can cast Amazon Music to the Shield TV Pro from a phone/tablet – I did test that with my Lenovo Android tablet – and because of Chromecast being built in to the Shield it works effortlessly – but you don’t gain anything by casting Amazon Music because the Shield does not display the lyrics on screen or any album art when you cast Amazon Music to it (just a boring grey screen), and then it’s draining my tablet batteries as well – I mean, if it’s not going to show album art or lyrics anyway when you cast to it, why would I cast to it at all, when I could just stream the music directly to my bluetooth soundbar from the tablet and cut out the middleman (the Shield) and still get the sound?
Nice looking device though, nVidia – build quality seemed good, set-up was effortless, remote control was more responsive than Amazon Fire stick one, and remote was a nice shape and felt good in the hand (Amazon FireTV Stick remotes seem a bit flimsy and I’ve already broken one in the past and had to replace it), although battery door on Shield remote was stupidly difficult and obscure to open and not at all obvious until I watched a YouTube tutorial on how to get it open. The GoogleTV interface seems nice enough, though I didn’t test it with Netflix and Prime Video (which come pre-installed) as there didn’t seem much point signing in to those apps when I’d already decided to return the device as I use Amazon Music every day and had mainly bought it for that.
So I’m returning my Shield, and I’m going to soldier on with my Fire Stick and hope Amazon make a set top box device like this with a wired ethernet connection, cooling fans, expandable storage, and Amazon Music pre-installed (go on, Amazon, I’d be happy to throw 200 at you for it) so I don’t have to screw around with Google Play Store.
I wanted something with more convenience, user friendly, a customizable and nice interface, media driven, and something that would get all the necessary updates when needed. The NVIDIA Shield gives me all that and more.
The things I like most about this product is:-
1. The AI up-scaling feature to give higher picture quality is excellent.
2. The build and quality of the remote control is outstanding. Some may say it is a bit heavy, but I think that emphasizes the quality vs other android device remotes.
3. You can add up to 512gb of storage via Micro SD (I added 256gb). Once formatted it becomes part of the device storage, so you can load as many apps and as much media as you want, you shouldn’t get any storage warnings.
Drawbacks (kind of)
1. If you want to type to search for something, you have to use the on screen keyboard which is a bit laborious. But there is voice control on the remote so you can utilize Google Assistant or Alexa, so I consider this a win.
2. If you are side-loading certain apps, some of them won’t create icons to add to your favorite bar or appear in the app section. The workaround is to install a side-load launcher app, add that to your favorites bar to access those other apps quickly and conveniently.
So out of all android devices I have experienced, this is hands down the best so far, and I ordered 2. Would have went for the Pro but sold out everywhere.
The initial set up was very straight forward with a guided process. Once on the main menu, you are given the Shield TV Launcher – and it’s incredibly basic with a number of limitations. Firstly it has a number of “channels” – these are rows where certain apps can highlight things that you may be interested in. This is disappointing as only a few apps support this feature (which are the ones that don’t interest me) and there are apps you do want to highlight things to to you – but are not supported. In the end I customised this view and switch off all of these highlighted feeds, leaving just one row of your favourite apps at the top of the screen.
All of this is done with the Toblerone-esque remote control, which feels great to use. It does come fixed with a dedicated “Netflix” button and as someone who doesn’t use the service its a shame it can be reprogrammed to be a shortcut for what I want it to be.
Next on to the apps. It’s highlighted in the promotional materials that 1000s of Google Play apps and games are available, although this should be taken with a pinch of salt. By default when you go to the Google Play Store on Shield, it will only allow you to install apps that are optimised for Android TV – this excludes pretty much a lot of the apps you would use on your tablet or phone. This is not Nvidia’s fault, but you need to be aware that apps can be allowed/disallowed by its developers to run on Android TV/Tablets/Phones, and with this in mind it restricts what apps are available.
From a UK TV and games perspective, you can get the following Android TV streaming apps straight away and enjoy…
– tvplayer (provides free live streams of BB1, BB2, ITV, Channel 4, and a few others – you can pay extra for other channels)
– BBC iPlayer
– itv Hub
– My5
– Amazon Prime Video
– Netflix
– Sky News
– Plex (useful if you already have a Plex server at home)
– Spotify (there is an in-built version of Spotify and a different app store one)
You can NOT get the following in the Google Play store for the Shield TV
– All4/Channel 4 on Demand
– Sky Go
– Now TV
In order to work around these limitation its possible to install APKs from a third party web site. Just add the APK to the SD card and install – please be aware this is an unofficial process. Sadly it was not possible to get All 4 or Sky Go or Now TV working in this way – the apps would crash out and close.
On the other hand this did allow to install the Xbox Game Streaming app (Project xCloud) and runs beautifully along side GeForce Now.
So now that you have installed (sideloaded) an app, you can try to add it to home screen as a favourite, but the Shield TV Launcher doesn’t allow you to add sideloaded apps in this way. And on top of that, there is no way to organise apps in to sections or folders such as “Games”, “TV, “Films”, etc.
In the end it was a paid third party app (ATV Launcher Pro) that I installed and managed to arrange the menu as I would like including side loaded apps that would’ve been hidden with the default home screen. It was surprising how much the app offered over and above the simple launcher – creating sections, folders, changing app icon, size, number of rows, colours, images… none of which were in the Shield TV menu by default. I would say though that my time with ATV Launcher Pro was great 90% of the time, as I had a few freezes and hangs – though I would say that was not the fault of the Shield TV.
For gaming, you have a number of option to play.
– Some Google Play Store games that are optimised for Android TV (you should check on the Google Play website under your existing purchased games if they are compatible on Android TV and you can re-download to Shield TV)
– Nvidia’s GeForce NOW service. A subscription service that lets you play your own Steam, uPlay, Epic, EA Origin games.
– Nvidia’s GeForce NOW “Free with Shield TV”. A few games are provided free of charge as on the Shield TV including Tomb Raider.
– Nvidia Game Stream. Allows the Shield TV, to stream games from your Windows PC to you Shield TV – from place in your home to another. Your PC must have a Nvidia GTX based graphics card to make use of this.
– Steam Link. Similar functionality as “Nvidia Game Stream”.
– Moon Light Game Streaming. Similar functionality as “Nvidia Game Stream”.
– You can also side load Xbox Game Streaming (subject to being a member of the programme). The only limitation I found with running it this way is there was no way to close the app. The original Android mobile app, need touch input to access a menu to close – not possible on Shield TV. You could exit the app back to the launcher menu but it would leave the app running in the background and consuming network bandwidth – I had to go to the Android Settings > Apps > Streaming > and then Force Stop.
I should add that by default the Shield TV will try to connect to a 5Ghz WiFi router (if your router has also 2.4 Ghz) – so it is worth making sure you have fast broadband and router for this purpose (or just use an Ethernet cable), as the game streaming network requirements are quite intensive
It’s also worth mentioning it was fairly easily to connect Bluetooth XB1 and PS4 controllers, and navigate the menus and apps. When the Shield TV is in sleep, turning on a XB1 controller that already been paired will wake the Shield TV up.
Overall this is a fantastic device, only let down by the terrible home screen launcher that should not be the case for a 150 device, that can be out done by a 3 app. And to a lesser extent the limitation of Android apps if not optimised for an Android TV device – though that isn’t Nvidia’s fault.