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

10 reviews for 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

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Vasily Pugh – April 13, 2024

   For many, the idea of spending nearly two hundred pounds on a streaming box when you can get an excellent Fire 4k stick or Roku for much cheaper doesn’t make sense. But this is one of those bits of kit that the cognoscenti (who I don’t claim to be a part of) know is a great purchase. I’ve gone from the 4k Fire Stick, to the 4k Fire Cube to this and am happy I made the switch. The first thing against the Fire devices is how many remote controls I’ve gone through – they seem to fail at an alarming rate and when the latest stopped working, I thought I’d try the fabled Nvidia Shield Pro. So what makes it so good?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.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   SineriderSinerider – April 13, 2024

   Despite the limitations of Android TV, the shield delivers on a basic level on every front, but often excels, so long as you’re willing to get a bit techy and geeky.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. ❌

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   C. Harris – April 13, 2024

   I was having growing issues with a few smaller streaming sticks for Plex local media playback, so decided to finally invest in the big one, and it is simply the best streaming device I have owned.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.

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Him and me and herHim and me and her – April 13, 2024

   If you are reading this you are probably already aware of what the box is and are just looking for pros and cons. It is hard to quantify some aspects easily without getting hung up on specs. Chances are that at the price point this sits at you will also be looking at a version of the beelink gt series. If all you want is a simple android media box then a gt, or even a lower specced device may be enough and you can stop reading this now. Otherwise read on.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.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   dawn carling – April 13, 2024

   This review is for anyone thinking about taking the plunge and buying this box. I am very familiar with android tv boxes and have had many as they are cheap and do the job to a certain degree so always thought why pay nearly £200 for a nvidia shield pro when I can get a different box for under £50. Well after many cheap boxes and even have a android smart tv the boxes do the job but are slow they freeze dont update and generally dont last long before they stop working. They dont perform well when playing 4k movies and jutter a lot, the WiFi doesn’t get the highest speed and the remote controls are useless and in general just cheap made rubbish! Now I decided to buy this bad boy and wow! it’s small well made with a decent weight to it with a lovely little remote that works very well. it boots up very fast compared to the cheap boxes and it updated the software straight away and was quick and easy, there is lots of functions also that are very handy and my favourite is the AI upscaling and the option to program the remote to use different buttons for different functions but there are loads of things to play with! Now to the thing I bought it for the movie streaming, I noticed straight away how much better it was and it does it effortlessly with no judder, has dolby atmos which I have on my tv soundbar has dolby vision which my tv has and all work great! I don’t use Netflix or anything you pay for apart from amazon prime and I just sideload apks and use the free streaming apps and iptv for the football. I have no interest in the game streaming part of it as I have a game console for that but I am very happy i bought it and it is worth the extra money because it works flawless! The one thing I hate is the stupid netflix button on the control which I keep hitting and it opens netflix which i dont use, and can’t seem to program the button to anything else but even my smart tv remote has netflix on so it must be a android tv thing and netflix probably pays manufacturers to put it on!

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Tea Burn – April 13, 2024

   I’ve owned a few Android TV media players, all based around the MX box design and specifications. They did the job bought for but nothing spectacular. I decided to upgrade as my old MX boxes couldn’t be updated to the next version of Android, and after researching the different makes on the market, I decided on the Nvidia Shield. I’ve had it over a week now, and I have to say, I’m totally blown away by this product. Its so superior to anything I’ve ever owned. I have a Philips Android TV and the Nvidia blows this out of the water!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!

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Steven E. – April 13, 2024

   I had recently been looking for a new streaming box, And after researching on the Internet what the top five streaming boxes of 2019, 20 were recommending. It seemed that everyone kept reverting to the Nvidia shield TV as the number one android streaming media box. The Nvidia shield TV has a nice presentation and comes well packaged. In the box you receive one of each of the following Nvidia shield TV, remote control, power lead with UK plug and a quick start guide. It would have been nice if they would have included a latest standard 4K HDM I lead with the purchase, but they don’t. So if you don’t have a spare 4K HDMI lead, Then add one to the basket before checking out. The Nvidia shield TV has a cylinder shape. The connection inputs are at either end of the shield TV. One end has the HDMI and micro Sd slot, there is also a button when pressed activates the remote control locating alarm. The other end has the gigabit ethernet input and are power input, there also is ventilation at this end. The shield TV is compact and can be placed behind the television as I have done keeping unnecessary cables out of eyesite. The shield remote is triangular in shape with rounded edges. The remote has motion detection so when picked up it will illuminate the back light ready for use, and the newly designed remote has 2 x AAA batteries which are included. The remote is very comfortable to hold and the buttons feel nice when pressed. The remote has a IR blaster to control your television and a microphone built into the remote to speak to Google. The remote also works with Bluetooth 5.0. The 4K upscaling works very well with my 4K television making the picture more sharp and detailed with the built in artificial intelligence upscaling software. This 2019 release Nvidia shield standard also comes with Dolby Atmos. This standard Nvidia shield TV of 2019 has a 25% faster processor. This standard Nvidia shield TV comes with eight gig of storage, and when can figuration set up is finished, with no personal apps installed you are left with about half of this. Which can be expanded with a microSD slot. I noticed when I placed my Samsung 32 gig microSD card into the Nvidia shield there was an option to format and use this as a default storage which is a good idea, but I am going to be placing my much larger SD card in for default storage for games or downloading content. SO if you choose this Standard Nvidia shield TV, before checking out add a micro SD card to your basket if you don’t have one. I found that the setting up of this Nvidia shield TV was extremely easy, as I was using my Google pixel 4 on the same wi-Fi network, But I am guessing it’s just going to be as easy using iOS. The Nvidia shield can be updated without any hassle, compare to my previous box which had to be plugged into a PC. I am mainly using this Nvidia shield TV for streaming video content at the moment, but I have the options to use it for so much more compared to my old streaming device. There is a dedicated button on the remote for Netflix, but if you are not a Netflix subscriber then you can download some software from the play store to change this default Netflix button to an app of your choice. If you just look on YouTube there is allsorts of content from remapping the Netflix button to install in third-party APK content and so on. If you are looking for a streaming Android box, then I personally would say spend the extra cash and buy the Nvidia shield as it’s like chalk and cheese compare to my old device for me. I hope my review and the other reviews on the Nvidia shield TV has finally made your choice much easier and you have found my review helpful.

8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Luke – April 13, 2024

   Where do I start? – I know the unboxing experience.A great experience overall, the box has the apple-esk opening feel and the remote comes with batteries included – however for some reason they decided to put them into the remote and not kept separate. They are Duracell batteries so that’s good!You get 1 remote, 2 batteries (AAA), the NVidia Shield (obviously) and a power cable.Oh and let’s not forget the instructions, which everyone reads…Make sure you have an Ethernet cable to hand and also make sure it’s CAT 5e or higher, this is because the shield can take up to 1Gps so if you have fast internet connection make sure you are using it!The shield will then perform an update and BOOM you are in. All further instructions such as TV calibration and sound controls are then able to be set up.Overall, a great device, yes the price is something to turn your nose up at but I think it’s worth it in the long run.As always though there are some negatives, sorry to keep you waiting… the Netflix button of doom!!! I don’t use Netflix personally but the button is very sensitive, I can assure you that after you purchase this and use it for a few hours you will hit the Netflix button (of doom) and understand what I mean. You can disable it with a button remapper from the play store so it’s not too much of a problem.The only other problem is the remote shape, don’t get me wrong it’s great to hold and the lights on it allow you to see the buttons. I like to hang my remotes on the wall with some Velcro and due to the shape that’s not possible but you can buy third party docks for it so that may be something to look at in the future.If you are thinking of buying one then just do it, you won’t regret it 🙂

9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Luskred – April 13, 2024

   I ordered this product because everyone is raving about it, and as pricey as it is .. it was money well spent, flawless from the word go,as for delivery it arrived as stated which is an added bonus, just perfect all round 👌

10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    nicholas axtell – April 13, 2024

    Liked every thing, saw plenty off reviews on how good the Box performed was a bet sceptical, but it performs brilliantly