NVIDIA Shield Android TV 2017 review

Posted on: 03/16/2017 09:55 AM

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Going to pick one up someday, seems like a great addition to a 4K HDR TV.

Posted on: 03/16/2017 10:40 AM

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Great review and great choice to get one signex. I already have this latest one since the first day it came out. I played a lot of different games on Xbox One S and PC. Now I'm playing a couple of games on my Shield and the shooters like Battlefield 1, Wildlands, The Division still on pc. I stream with a wired connection with 1Gb/s with 60FPS @4K resolution. I also use a Plex server and stream with this same connection without any troubles the highest quality 4K movies/series. I think this device is great and it works great with all the "cast" options. Go for a website on your phone/laptop/tablet, press the cast option and voila it's on your big television screen.

Note: Still waiting for the new Planet Earth in real 4k to come out

Posted on: 06/12/2017 01:57 PM

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Do not waste your time/money!

I purchased a Nvidia Shield Android TV 500GB ten months ago. Since that time I have never had a fully functioning product which lives up to its advertised description. I strongly suggest anyone considering purchasing this product to take time and go to other (unbiased) review sites and you will quickly notice that there is a common theme with this product. Namely, that it underperforms and generates an assortment of technical issues. To reduce the length of this post I have bullet-pointed my experience as follows:

• Purchased Nvidia Shield Android TV 500GB in July 2016.
• I had numerous minor issues however the main issue is that I could not transfer any media to the 500GB hard drive (it was not discoverable).
• Over 3 months of prolonged, wearisome and back-and-forth online support discussions, I was finally granted an RMA.
• It took 2 months for me to receive a “refurbished” Nvidia Shield Android TV 500GB.
• This second-hand device allowed me to transfer data to the Shield effortlessly like one would expect. However, new problems included (but were not limited to); inability to see the device over my network, unable to play movies over PLEX (one of the applications promoted to work with the Shield) and loss of connection with the controllers every time the Shield was turned on.
• Again, further laborious emails were sent via the online support where I was eventually told that “we do take those issues seriously”.
• I gave up until I was once again frustrated with the inability of the device to smoothly play 1080p and 4K movies from the hard drive (which would play smoothly on any other device). This was one of the main reasons for my purchase of the Shield. The boast of the ability to play HD movies is true however the choppy video playback from the hard drive is seriously disappointing.
• I generated my third online support query for this issue which was neglected for 2 weeks (the usual response time is 72 hours). After my probing for a resolution my contact (who had been working on each of my support queries) said he required my serial number to investigate the issue further. I had already supplied the serial number in a previous question. Furthermore it was already recorded on all my previous support queries with this support agent. This laziness/procrastination was the final straw for me and lead me to share my endless battle with the product with others.
• To date this is where is stands. If anyone is interested in further updates I am happy to supply them.

Posted on: 06/12/2017 02:16 PM

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Sorry to see that you have issues. As for network issues, in the settings you'll notice a preference that allows detection and network sharing. While I did not test the 500GB Pro model, I did test with added storage (128GB Sandisk mini flash-key). I have been able to access is perfectly from within my network.

As for Ultra HD playback, using KODI even yesterday I watched an Ultra HD movie on the Shield Android TV box, flawlessly and stutter-free streamed from a NAS in the network. Typically choppy playback is a result of wrong KODI settings. E.g. sync movie refresh rate to the display. Well that and poor WIFI signal.

I ditched Plex overall though, I do not like the software on any piece of hardware.

Posted on: 06/12/2017 02:30 PM

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^ same. I have the original model and it has worked flawlessly ever since. I have always used Kodi and streamed movies from my NAS and have never had a single issue.

P.S. ditch Plex, it is a glitchy mess. I have never had a positive experience with it.

Posted on: 06/12/2017 03:09 PM

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I purchased a Nvidia Shield Android TV 500GB ten months ago. Since that time I have never had a fully functioning product which lives up to its advertised description. I strongly suggest anyone considering purchasing this product to take time and go to other (unbiased) review sites and you will quickly notice that there is a common theme with this product. Namely, that it underperforms and generates an assortment of technical issues. To reduce the length of this post I have bullet-pointed my experience as follows:

• Purchased Nvidia Shield Android TV 500GB in July 2016.
• I had numerous minor issues however the main issue is that I could not transfer any media to the 500GB hard drive (it was not discoverable).
• Over 3 months of prolonged, wearisome and back-and-forth online support discussions, I was finally granted an RMA.
• It took 2 months for me to receive a “refurbished” Nvidia Shield Android TV 500GB.
• This second-hand device allowed me to transfer data to the Shield effortlessly like one would expect. However, new problems included (but were not limited to); inability to see the device over my network, unable to play movies over PLEX (one of the applications promoted to work with the Shield) and loss of connection with the controllers every time the Shield was turned on.
• Again, further laborious emails were sent via the online support where I was eventually told that “we do take those issues seriously”.
• I gave up until I was once again frustrated with the inability of the device to smoothly play 1080p and 4K movies from the hard drive (which would play smoothly on any other device). This was one of the main reasons for my purchase of the Shield. The boast of the ability to play HD movies is true however the choppy video playback from the hard drive is seriously disappointing.
• I generated my third online support query for this issue which was neglected for 2 weeks (the usual response time is 72 hours). After my probing for a resolution my contact (who had been working on each of my support queries) said he required my serial number to investigate the issue further. I had already supplied the serial number in a previous question. Furthermore it was already recorded on all my previous support queries with this support agent. This laziness/procrastination was the final straw for me and lead me to share my endless battle with the product with others.
• To date this is where is stands. If anyone is interested in further updates I am happy to supply them.

Care to share any of these "unbiased" reviews where it under-performs and has technical issues? As someone who has owned the Shield since launch, I haven't had many issues with it. When Plex launched the server I had trouble getting it to connect to my NAS - but that's a Plex problem and not a Shield problem. I stream all my media via Plex and my NAS now and I never get choppy playback.

Idk, in my experience the Shield has been one of the best devices I've ever used. Nvidia keeps it updated extremely well. Netflix 4K HDR/Amazon 4k/HDR streaming all look/play work wonderfully. Even Nvidia's gamestream service, as useless as it is to me since I have my TV plugged into my computer, works way better then I'd imagine it to work. And every time android police has a post about it, like half the comments talk about how it's by far the best streaming device on the market and worth the extra money over cheaper solutions. Mainly because it doesn't underperform. Perhaps the 500GB model has issues when reading/writing from the drive - but my 16GB model has been pretty much flawless.