nVidia® SHIELD® TV

Having used cheaper Android TV boxes for years, I was at my wits end. The specs supplied for the lower-cost options are misleading. There are multiple issues with the majority of these inferior devices but the two 'biggies' are lack of updates & the fact that the network connections (both ethernet and WiFi) are notoriously slow. I'd actually reached a point where I was contemplating building my own device with a raspberry pi (etc.). I then did some research & discovered the Nvidia Shield Pro! I do realise that at £189, the Shield is (conservatively) 3-4 times the price of some of the cheaper alternatives, but there is a good reason for this: 'It does exactly what it says on the tin'. The Nvidia Shield Pro is BY FAR the best Android TV box I've ever used & you can trust the specification & performance information provided. The UI is smooth & easy to use, it is clear that Nvidia take great pride in the user experience & I applaud them. This device is a true multimedia centre and is geared towards cloud gaming. I looked at buying the official controller but this was expensive. I therefore purchased an 'MSI FORCE GC300' Wireless controller for £32.99 (a bargain) & paired it with the shield. For budget-friendly gaming this device is a must & it also converts any UHD TV into a high-end smart TV (Dolby vision & AI upscaling are giving me some of the best picture quality I've ever personally witnessed). To summarise, learn from my mistakes; buy this now instead of a cheap & inferior alternative. If I'd have known how good the Nvidia Shield devices are (back then), I would've! Hope this helps!

Bought this to replace an aging firestick, the performance is excellent and the gigabit ethernet helps massively. It's a very fast TV box with plenty of connectivity to connect an xbox controller and for game streaming from my gaming PC. It was very easy to setup, I don't get any buffering issues and there's loads of apps to download from the play store.

I’m so pleased I spent the money to buy a more expensive streaming box. Fantastic for streaming. Picture clarity superb on my OLED TV and sound is sensational on my surround-sound cinema system; so much better than cheaper streaming boxes. It’s great to use straight out of the box but if you want to customise it there is a lot you can do. I’ve added Projectivy launcher and an icon pack to make the home screen even more special, and Button Mapper to customise some of the keys on the remote. The remote is great too. It’s triangular, which makes it comfortable to hold, and the buttons illuminate when you move it – great for if you need it whilst you’re watching a movie with the lights low. Having said that, I added the Logitech K400 Plus media keyboard for added convenience, and I recommend that add-on if you are likely to do much typing on-screen.

Used to allow an otherwise great TV access to some streaming services not natively available. Took a short time to configure as needed with a couple of online videos providing excellent tutorials. Much smaller and lighter than expected. Easy to hide away from sight and the remote is very confortable and easy to use. Overall and excellent product.

Bought this as a video streaming and back up gaming device for the bedroom, and overall really happy with it even with some annoyances. 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.

Very good job. Thank you :)

Amazing Andriod TV . My required applications are available, hopefully more app such as zoom and teams , udemy .. etc will be added later to android TV. Performance is super fast and I can controll my Samsung TV from sheild remote (very nice design).

I've used streaming boxes for years and the run of the mill boxes I've bought recently are hopeless. Finally decided to go for a Shield and yes it is a blessing. It's as good as they say it is, very happy chappy

This has elevated my tv watching experience and the picture quality and functionality is both easy to use and simple.to set up. Took me 20mins from opening the box to sitting back and watching rhe tv. The quality of the picture from a standard set top box is on another level The only thing that I cannot work out is where do the batteries go for the remote control if I were to chnage them. Not a today problem.

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