Why you SHOULD get it:
This is hands-down the best tv streaming device out there. You just need to know (or google in about 5 minutes) how to use it. Most apps you need are in the included Google Play store, but you can side-load any android apps that aren’t (google it). You can put third party apps on the home screen by adding shortcuts to them (google that too). It has Netflix and Amazon streaming apps pre-installed (you need to have an account for those respective services to use them). It can play any audio or video file type with the right app. You can plug-and-play an external hard drive, and transfer files to and from other computers and drives on your network. You can stream from any device on your network. The interface is better than Fire TV, and the new Fire TV doesn’t have USB input for extra storage. You can use any programmable or learning (aka “universal”) IR remote. You can use any Bluetooth controller. You can stream live TV with the right apps if you’re a subscriber to that live TV service. It’s fast. It’s small. It looks pretty cool. Not only does it work, but there is absolutely nothing I can think of that anyone would want to do with it as a video streaming device, that this device can’t do. It is far and away the absolute best device for that purpose.
If it’s defective or faulty or DOA, return it and get another one.
Now, having said all of that, a caveat regarding gaming:
The pocessing power is there. You can stream games from PC with the right setup, and it will work for that. In the long-run though, it’s an android device. If your main intention for getting the Shield is gaming, I would recommend going with a PC, or a console instead. Retro games are flawless on the Shield, but for hardcore gamers of current games, I don’t think it’s the best choice.
As a TV, Movie, Video, and retro-games media center though, the Shield TV and an external hard drive are the best possible option out there.
As for the price. It’s a little more expensive than some other options. It was massively on sale during the Thanksgiving and “cyber” sales period. If you want the best video media center, it’s worth it.
Why you SHOULDN’T get it:
Maybe you don’t need all of that. If you just want to stream Amazon and Netflix, a Fire TV is much cheaper and performs those functions just fine. The Shield is for people who want a lot more options in their media and more control over what, where, and how to play it. You just have to know or learn how to use it. If you don’t need those extra perks, or the time and energy required to learn how to get it to do what you want isn’t worth it to you, look elsewhere.
As far as giving it one star because it was defective or DOA: return it for a replacement.
As far as giving it one star because you don’t like the remote: use a different remote.
As far as giving it a bad review because it’s too expensive: you knew how much it cost and paid for it. While I can appreciate that these issues might be frustrating, none of them is a fault of the product.
If it doesn’t do what you thought it would, you didn’t do the research first to see what the device is capable of. I did a ton of research before purchasing the Shield TV. For me, it’s not only the best option, but far surpasses the capabilities of any other choice on the market right now.
I just don’t understand all of the negative reviews.
I Just received my Nvidia shield in the mail, the SHIELD TV not the PRO.
Whats' in the box?
NVIDIA SHIELD TV
Remote
Controller
Power Adapter
Charging Cable (for controller)
What's not in the box?
HDMI cable - This is rather annoying, but most people will have another one laying around somewhere.
Initial build quality impressions: 4/5
Unit does not have a very substantial feeling to it, feels rather lightweight and a little flimsy. Both the remote and gamepad have a good feel in my hands and I enjoy holding them. For what it is the build quality is adequate though, just don’t drop it.
Getting started: 4.5/5
Upon starting the unit you will need to setup the unit with your Google account. This can be either done using the controller or using your android smartphone / tablet. The latter, did not work for me. I received an error that something went wrong and the setup aborted on my phone. No big deal, the on screen setup is rather painless. After the setup the device will download a rather large (1.07GB) software package and then ask to restart. Upon restart the SHIELD will take you to it's main app screen.
Interface: 5/5
The main interface is very clean and very fast. Apps are laid out in the traditional tile orientation with menus being very easy to navigate.
HDR Test: 4/5
One of the major reasons I purchased this is the HDR support that it offers over other boxes. So, first thing I did was sign into my Amazon Prime Instant Video account and fire up an episode of "Mozart in the Jungle". As soon as the video launched the TV switched over to HDR settings and I was good to go.
Amazon: HDR is working.
Youtube: HDR NOT working: Attempted to play "The World in HDR" TV is not switching to HDR settings
Netflix: Update 1/16/2016: HDR is now working. You need to update the Netflix app via the "Google Play Store" on the main dashboard in order to have HDR work.
Internal Storage: 3.5/5
The base version has 16GB of internal storage, which is realistically 11GB after allocation. Time will tell if this will suffice for my needs. It should be noted that a MICRO SD CAN NOT be used with the base version, that slot is only on the pro version. It did allow me to connect a 128GB USB flash drive to be used as additional internal storage.
Gaming: 4.5/5
I tested a few Android games that I bought previously from the Google Play Store. I played Final Fantasy and Goat Simulator. Both games mapped controls as if you were playing on a console and it translates well to the SHIELD. I did not try any kind of game streaming yet as I don't have access to any content at this time.
Game Emulation:5/5
I've gotten a few questions on emulation and gamepad input lag so I did some testing on a few different emulators. So far I've tested MUPEN64, Snes9x+, ePSXe, MD.Emu and NES.Emu. In all instances the software automatically mapped the NVIDIA Gamepad to appropriate buttons. All of the games I tested ran very smoothly, with a little bit of situational lag on the N64 Emu, but this was with settings maxed. I noticed absolutely no input lag from the gamepad and everything felt very responsive. It's possible people who are very sensitive to input lag may feel differently, YMMV.
Gamepad: 4.5/5
The game pad is almost the exact same size as my XBOX ONE S controller with a button layout a little closer to a Sony DUALSHOCK controller, with the D-Pad being above the left stick. The game pad battery does not come fully charged so I suggest plugging it in and charging it after unboxing if you want to use it.
Remote 4/5
The remote is not chargeable and does not use a traditional AA/AAA battery. It instead uses 2 "CR 2032" flat cell batteries that are claimed to last about a year. To change the batteries you need to use a fine point (pen etc.) to press in the small button on the bottom of the remote, the battery tray should then eject.
UPDATE 1/21/2017: Like many of the other reviewers my remote is completely worthless now. Initially I did not notice any issues with it, but lately it is either lagging severely or not responding at all. Hopefully this can be resolved with software updates, if not NVIDIA is going to need to replace all of the remotes. My current remote version is 1.03.
UPDATE 2/19/2017: Android TV 5.1 and remote firmware v1.05 both had a rollout on my device on 2/18/2017. The combination of these updates seems to have greatly improved the functionality of the remote. Aside from the initial lag when you "wake" the remote, it seems to be completely lag free now. Thank you NVIDIA for resolving this issue that has plagued so many of us.
Voice Search: 3.5/5
Voice search so far seems very nice, but as far as I can tell it doesn't find programs on Prime Video from the home screen. If I say "The Man in High Castle" it will pull up a review and a cast list, but no option to watch on Amazon. But if I search "X-Files" It will show up as available to watch on "Netflix" and I can watch it. The voice search is supposed to get more support at a later date with the addition of Google Home features.
Network: 4/5
In order for the SHIELD to appear on your network, you need to update the PLEX server first and enable the device in the "Storage and Reset" menu. For some reason I was unable to update PLEX server in the "Google Play" app on the device and I had to manually push it from the google play store on my PC.
UPDATE 1/17/17: I've recently been having issues with the other PCs in my house not being able to see the shield on the network. This is making it so I can't drop files directly on the shield. This initially worked when I got it set up, but is no longer. What I've been doing as a workaround is putting files into a shared folder I named "SHIELD TRANSFER" and pulling the files over using the free app "ES FILE EXPLORER". It's inconvenient, but it works. This will become more of an issue if I decide to host media on the shield and attempt to watch it on other devices. This issue may be isolated to my network.
UPDATE 1/18.17: I did some digging and got the drive to finally show on the network (hopefully for good). This is from Nvidia’s site, I suggest you give it a try if you’re having issues like I was:
“To immediately connect to your SHIELD, type “\\SHIELD” into the Windows Explorer address bar. If you changed your device name (found in Settings > About on your SHIELD), replace “SHIELD” with your device name (without any spaces). Alternatively, you can type your SHIELD’s IP address into the Windows Explorer address bar: \\192.168.1.X (find your IP address on the “Access SHIELD folders on PC” page).
You can also permanently map your SHIELD as a network drive by right-clicking on “Network” in File Explorer and selecting “Map Network Drive”. Select an unused Drive letter. In the Folder field, type your IP address and the folder path to map. Example: “\\192.168.1.5\internal”. Select “Reconnect at logon” and then Click “Finish”.”
Complaints: I feel that the omission of an IR sensor and MICRO SD slot on the base version of the SHIELD to be a poor decision. Most people are not comfortable spending an extra $100 for features that were standard in the previous version of this device. I'm also annoyed to a lesser extent by the lack of an HDMI cable. The remote in it's current state is worthless and needs to be resolved either by replacement or a patch.
Overall Rating: 4.25/5
After having a few days getting the device mostly set up for my use, I must say I’ve very pleased with the unit overall. It’s hands down the fastest streaming device I’ve ever used, much faster than my XBOX ONE S and ROKU 3. The ability to use the device as network storage makes transferring files and media between PC and SHIELD very easy. Although the SHIELD TV unit itself and the controller function very well, the remote is completely worthless. The device is almost perfect if they can get the remote issues resolved.
UPDATE 2/19/2017: Recent firmware updates with Android TV 5.1 and remote firmware 1.05 have resolved the previous issues with the remote. The only nagging issue I am having is the shield network storage "unmounting" itself whenever the device restarts, which makes it a hassle to transfer content on the fly without having to first re-mount the device. If there is a fix for this I would love to know..
This thing is awesome. Holy moly am I so happy to not be using my Samsung TV for streaming anymore. You know... One of the coolest things, it's so small... When I turn on the Shield, it tells my TV to turn on which tells my sound bar to turn on and vice verse. The volume control on the shield controls the sound bar. Everything just works.
I got this as a mini project... A tiny 128GB USB drive to store android apps and games in the first slot. And a 4TB Passport in the second right on top. Install the Plex Server... Got myself a Homerun HD Tuner. Now I schedule and record everything and anything on TV. And the shield quietly records it all whatever I'm doing for later play.
Great product. It just works. Still getting quality updates. Amazon Prime streaming? Check. Netflix? Check. Crunchy roll? Of course. HBO Go... YouTube... All there. No BS.
P.S. Get this one. You'll love the size. If you need storage, buy a dang 4TB tiny passport for $150 and voila!
If I could give this more than five stars I would. I have had a Firestick and an H96 Pro Plus before this and I was beginning to think that streaming was not going to be a good way to see movies. They stopped while playing and generally did not work well. The Shield is like driving a Ferrari after driving a Pinto. It is unbelievably fast and works perfectly. Don't waste your money buying the others just because they are cheaper. The Shield is worth every penny.
Had some time to play with SHIELD and wanted to share my thoughts.
I've tried a lot of the other streamers and i feel SHIELD is my favorite device.
I have an Android phone, so i love that it has Google Assistant integration. It's great to have integration with my google photos - you can press search and ask SHIELD to "Show me my pictures from xyz". Also nice that you can see what's on your google calendar and cast directly from your android phone to your TV.
4K HDR catalog is great because SHIELD has Netflix, Amazon Video and Vudu in HDR.
Youtube experience is better than other streamers - you have full search integration, but you can even say show me the latest Tonight Show or ask to play any Music Video and it just direct plays into the Youtube Video. It also seems youtube on SHIELD supports 360 so you can use your remote to see shows in 360 on SHIELD. i know neither of this works on my Roku or Fire TV.
I also use Plex and it seems SHIELD is the only streamer that supports Plex as a client and server device.
Finally, it is nice that SHIELD has also integrated Samsung Smartthings Hub. I am just started to set up a smart home in my home and it is nice that i can turn on/off my lights via my SHIELD, and set routines through Samsung Integration.
I know it is a bit more expensive than other streamers, but i use my streamer more than 10 hours a week so i think it is worth the extra money.
Feature Product
- World Class performance - blazing fast and versatile enough to be a streamer, game console, media server, and smart home hub. Fully customizable, SHIELD continues to evolve and get smarter with new features
- 4K HDR home Theater - enjoy the ultimate visual experience with 4K HDR quality, immersive sound with Dolby Atoms and dots-x Surround sound pass-through, and the most 4K entertainment; Power: 40 W power adapter (5-10 W typical consumption)
- GeForce Now Beta access - transform your shield TV into a powerful GeForce-powered PC gaming rig. Play hundreds of supported titles like Fortnight and access Features like cloud saves and cross-play
- Limitless content - apps for all the movies, TV shows, games, and music you dream of. Cord cutting apps. Chromecast apps. View Google photos and search for entertainment with simple voice commands
- Google and ecosystems - the Google Assistant, Google play movies and music, and works with Google Home. Alexa controls SHIELD hands-free with echo, Plus Prime video and music. Some HDMI to DVI/VGA adapters may not support Audio. If possible, Connect your shield TV to an HDMI port on your TV without using an adapter
Description
NVIDIA Shield TV is the most advanced streaming media Player that provides endless entertainment and is the perfect fit for your google-connected lifestyle. Play your favorite shows In up to 4K HDR, share your photos, stream The latest songs, display your calendar, dim the lights, and so much more, All with just your voice. With shield, it's more than TV. It's your life—smarter and more connected. Enjoy Netflix, video, and Voodoo in stunning 4K HDR and YouTube, Google Play movies & TV, and more in up to 4K. Cut the cord with apps like YouTube TV, Sling TV or PlayStation Vie. Cast your favorite apps to your TV with Chromecast 4K built-in. Add smart things Link to turn shield into a ZigBee and Z-Wave smart home hub to wirelessly connect and automate hundreds of compatible smart devices, so they can all work together with voice commands and automations. Even use shield as a Plax media server and stream your personal media collection to any device, anywhere. NVIDIA game stream harnesses the power of your GeForce GTX graphics card to let you cast your games from your PC to your TV. Don’t have a powerful gaming rig? Just stream PC games from the cloud with GeForce now. You can also play a new class of exclusive Android games. Audio: Dolby Atmos (pass-through) and DTS-X surround sound (pass-through) over HDMI, High-resolution audio playback up to 24-bit/192 kHz over HDMI and USB, High-resolution audio up-sample to 24-bit/192 kHz over USB, Audio support: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, WAVE, AMR, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, PCM, WMA, WMA-Pro, WMA-Lossless, DD+/DTS (pass-through), Dolby TrueHD (pass-through), DTS-HD (pass-through). Video: Up to 4K HDR playback at 60 FPS (H.265/HEVC), Up to 4K playback at 60 FPS (VP8, VP9, H.264, MPEG1/2), Up to 1080p playback at 60 FPS (H.263, MJPEG, MPEG4, WMV9/VC1), Format/Container support: Xvid/ DivX/ASF/AVI/MKV/MOV/M2TS/MPEG-TS/MP4/WEB-M
The biggest issue is with how the device knows what audio modes are available and how the apps send their 5.1 audio. The shield gets which audio modes are available via the HDMI port, if you are using pass-through audio or an audio extractor it will only see the modes your TV can do -- Apps like Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix use Dolby+ and if that isn't available will only send 2.0 sound. If you have a 4k TV and were going to use a 1080p receiver, expect headaches trying to get 5.1 dolby / dts out of anything besides Kodi. You'll get to choose between 4k/2.0, 1080p/5.1, and getting 4k receiver and passing the video through to the TV, as you normally would do.
The remote is severely lacking in buttons, if i didn't have a Harmony remote that would be more of an issue -- but the harmony remote, when paired doesn't have the full keyboard, so to get the most out of your universal remote get a FLIC IR receiver to add in the missing functions.
So this is the 2nd Nvidia I've purchased. The first one is 2 years old. The newer version is identical as far as software goes but is a tad smaller in size from what I can tell. This is without a doubt the best 4k streaming device out right now. I love Apple Tv but it doesn't touch this thing in performance. I used the first one as a media server with a 2TB drive connected to it for storing movies and music. It's plenty fast enough to handle the task. It runs Kodi and Plex flawlessly and updates Kodi automatically. The only issue I've encountered is the old system's LAN connection crapped out and caused my network in the house to quit. Took me half a day to track it down to this device. Let's hope the new one doesn't do that. The Wifi connection is pretty darn fast but I prefer LAN connection for streaming 4k and running Plex.
This is the best android box out there. It's a shame to have to classify this in the grouping of those inferior boxes but it is an android Operating system. It is 64bit though. This has been such a great experience for me (windows fan) I bought another and replaced a dedicated htpc. This works amazing and is only getting better. It has a company that backs it so I am sure it will only get better. I have no complaints at all. It is able to bitstream Atmos through Plex and netflix. The has adequaternary 3.0 USB spots. It has a micro usb connection spot to hook up to a pc for easy navigation as well.
I highly recommend this for use for a htpc.
I will be sure to update this as the months past if they become defective or unusable in anyway. If this review has helped in anyway please hit the helpful button. Thank you.
Well where to start! This little thing is amazing!
Let’s start from the beginning, I’ve always run a DLNA server using Serviio, with 10Tb of media, and no transcoding. First off I used the Xbone, which as many know is pretty bad when it comes to its media player, it’s great till it doesn’t like a file or crashes! (Note I used my 2 Xboxs daily for years now, but it got so bad that change had to happen) Secondly I decided to go for a medium option, the Roku, great little stick that had much promise. It played okay but had big problems with H264 and other file codecs, it was a little figity and likes to buffer for minutes on end. But it played more than the xbox, and had a stunning picture, BUT NOT FF OR RW! So for me, useless! But it’s totally worth being in the spare bedroom for guests to enjoy a movie once they retire. Now for the Shield, this tops all. Beautiful, fast, reliable. I used The Kodi app which compliments Serviio nicely, very nicely. Yes there’s a $110 difference, but holy cr*p is it better! It’s taken every file I’ve thrown at it, including full 4K video and it didn’t stutter once! Had a couple frame drops but it’s to be expected with 7.1 pass through... other than that literally no faults! Remote is a little bad but hey who care about a remote! It’ll use any you pair with it anyway! Nice feel all round.
If your looking for an easy-ish player that’ll help your life out to no end look no further, the Shield is hands down the best mainstream device!
There is a lot to love about the 2017 Nvidia Shield TV console. It's not perfect, but for $199, it's an amazing machine and the perfect front end my media center.
Who is the Shield TV for? This device is perfect for cord cutters of all flavors. It's simple enough for non-geeks to plug in and start streaming Netflix, Amazon, Google Play, etc. If that's all you need, though, you might consider saving some money and going with either a Roku or Fire TV, but I will say that I prefer the interface of the Shield TV to either of those options. However, if you're like me, and a big nerd about this stuff, then forget all the other options: the Shield TV is the king. I'll get into some reasons (as well as some frustrations), but there are so many that I'm sure I'll forget some.
1. Ticks all the streaming boxes: Netflix, Amazon, Google, Hulu and everything else you can think of (except Apple, of course): Not only is it the only machine that can say that, but it does it right: 4K all around, and for Google, you get the entire Play Store ecosystem and an official (and slick) YouTube app. Most of these are also integrated to the point where you can do one search to expose content in several services (except Amazon Prime Video, that is still in its own silo).
2. Home media integrations: As someone with a large collection of digital media, this was a big one for me. The Shield TV has so many options for playing local and network files ranging in simplicity from plugging in a USB drive to hosting a Plex Media Center and lots of in-between options. Personally, I am using it as a Plex Media Client with my server still hosted on my PC, but I also use Kodi and have my media library on my PC mapped as a network storage location on the Shield, which then allows for my library to be accessed from Kodi. As long as you can get to the media, you can play it on the Shield TV one way or another. You can also plug in a USB 3.0 drive and use it as adopted storage for your Shield TV, which I recommend if you are going to be installing apps and games much. All of these capabilities work as expected, but I did encounter some error messages along the way. However, after a few tries, everything turned out OK.
3. Gaming: the gaming capabilities of the Shield TV are awesome, but confusing and sometimes unreliable. The simplest option is to install games from Google Play Games. Nvidia has even ported some PC games over to Android specifically for this purpose, but as long as the game works with a controller, you're pretty much good to go for Play Store games. Next, you have GeForce Now, which is like Netflix for games, and it rocks. The selection of games is a little small for now, but I found plenty that I liked. This is a great option for people without dedicated gaming rigs and even on my low-tier internet package, it was serviceable. Finally, there's Gamestream, which is my preferred way to play. In fact, I went and and bought a EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC GAMING, 4GB GDDR5, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) (04G-P4-6253-KR) just so I could do this. When it works, it's amazing, but so far I've found it only works on about half the games I want to play. For Example: Borderlands 2 is a "go", Mass Effect 3 is a "no-go".
4. Hardware: Speaking of gaming, the included controller is amazing (comparable to the XBox 360 controller which is very familiar to me). The remote is pretty good but not quite perfect: they took away the headphone jack, which is too bad. The volume control is a neat idea, but not responsive or obvious enough for me. Also, I wish the thing just had a power button. The integration of the IR blaster is awesome though: I love being able to turn my TV on and off with the device and control the volume of my receiver from the same little remote. They also axed some of the storage options for the non-pro model. I really wish that they had put in an extra USB port or something, especially when you're basically forced into using one of them for adopted storage. I don't have anything in the second port now, but it stresses me out to think I can only plug one more thing in, whatever that eventually is. The hardware is amazing where it counts though: it's super fast and looks great.
5. The Future! As fun and functional as the Shield TV is, there is the additional promise of the big update that incorporates Google Home functionality using the controller as the far-field microphone input. This, along with the Spot microphones which add additional interaction points to Google Home, will add a whole new dimension to the device. I can't wait for that!
Some buggy stuff:
1. The initial setup was harder than it should have been. There was a bug that prevented me from authenticating my Google account from my phone, as it tried to have me do. Then it failed to update after downloading the entire 1-gigabyte file, which it had to start over. Hopefully by the time you're reading this they've managed to iron out these details. Nothing kills your enthusiasm like running into bugs in the initial setup process.
2. I purchased the Samsung 128GB BAR (PLASTIC) USB 3.0 Flash Drive (MUF-128BC/AM) to use as adopted storage specifically because it was one of the few that were recommended by Nvidia for this purpose. However, getting it to work was a pain. First appeared to freeze during the process of formatting the drive and then it wouldn't be found or the format would be incorrect, I had to restart several times. Then it reported that the drive might be slow, which doesn't make sense because it's USB 3.0 and specifically recommended as the one you're supposed to use!
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