expired Posted by phoinix | Staff • Nov 17, 2023
Nov 17, 2023 10:35 AM
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expired Posted by phoinix | Staff • Nov 17, 2023
Nov 17, 2023 10:35 AM
NVIDIA Shield Android TV 4K Pro Streaming Media Player
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Sunshine and Moonlight are the server-client pair of apps you will want to use to do any LAN game streaming. They are relatively easy to set up, but it's something you should know about before purchasing if you intend to use this as a game streaming device.
Sunshine: https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine
Moonlight: https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt
GameStream sunset announcement: https://nvidia.custhelp
As for performance, I have not had any issues at all with this model of Shield. I used it to replace the smart features on a 2016 Samsung TV that was getting progressively more annoying and losing support for applications like Twitch.
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I have two older ShieldTV's and I do believe the Shield Pro is the most capable streamer on the market, but I'm not buying any more of them.
2017 is laggy and needs resetting once every 3 weeks or once a month. 2019 is much snappier and faster to load and rarely needs resetting (once in the past 2 years). 2017 is actually connected to one of my Orbi satellites while 2019 is strictly wifi so definitely not network issue.
I'm almost tempted to buy this but still hoping (forever?) that Nvidia will update this so I can replace the 2017 Pro that I have.
At this point, it's a 4 year old streaming box based on an 8 year old chip running 3 versions of Android behind.
Of course this was also a very long time ago. Now having used both Shield & ATV on a weekly basis.. IMO the ATVs work much better for practically everything BUT Bluray rips with lossless audio. That's because AppleTV outputs everything in Dolby. So when I want to hear a DTS-HD MA audio track (or the full range of sound from a movie) the Shield is still my go-to device. For any other content that is NOT a Bluray disc (aka every other streaming app).. or any other TV around my house that is using either built-in sound or a soundbar... none of this matters.
So if you aren't using a Shield for Bluray movie rips.. I cannot think of any further reason to purchase an old ass Shield, instead of a new AppleTV4K in 2023. The Shield has an old processor, feels slow to navigate, and continues to give me random issues. Sometimes apps won't open or respond, sometimes the entire OS locks up, and sometimes I have to get up and pull the power cord to hard reboot the device to get it working right again. I've also found many Android apps are not updated as often as those on AppleTV and it seems like Google is only adding more ads to AndroidTV.
The interface on ATV is significantly easier, faster, and overall better for practically anyone to navigate. This is especially important to me as I now use the ATV streaming box on all 8 of the TVs in my home. So doesn't matter if my wife.. young kids or even 77-year-old grandparents grab the remote.. everybody knows exactly how to turn on the TV, find the app they want to use, and navigate to whatever content they want to watch.
The other downside of switching over to Apple TV is the loss of sideloaded apps such as STN.
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I know a lot of people that have an old PC lying around and they use that for a Plex server. Some of these PCs are 10 years old but they still work great.
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A lot of people don't realize how fast the Nvidia shield is. In terms of user interface speed, it's still really fast.
It also handles Stremio/Real Debrid/torrentio which Apple TV cannot. You could run that on a cheaper Android device like the Walmart Onn if that's all you're looking for.
I will say that the Shield is a phenomenal Plex server... until it isn't. Maybe once a year the permissions (or something) change from an update and it gets hosed up so I rebuild it. It's easy to do and well worth it to me.
I also like the remote for the Shield. I hate the gesture(?) remote on my Apple TV. The light-up buttons on the Shield and "find my remote" are great, although I wish it beeped 10x louder.
The other downside of switching over to Apple TV is the loss of sideloaded apps such as STN.
The other downside of switching over to Apple TV is the loss of sideloaded apps such as STN.
This is an awesome device but it should not be this expensive still. Mainly because Google is now forcing ads on them with the updated UI. Price should be much cheaper with the ad subsidization by Google ads.
That said, someone else needs to come out with an updated device that runs android TV, and not let google force ads on it like these shields have. AMD please?
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