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 Posted: Wed, 5th Dec 2018 13:37 Post subject: Nvidia Shield TV - highly recommended! |
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A few weeks back with the Black Friday sale, I saw the Nvidia Shield TV on sale for €160 (the 16GB model with remote and gamepad). I was looking for a separate Android TV box because my Samsung Smart TV was not only slow as ass, it was not Android based and region locked.
I had seen all kinds of Nvidia Shields - from the tablets to the gamepad with screen attached and had always dismissed them because they were mobile "gaming" devices and we all know how great those usually are. Still, I needed a TV box so I gave it a chance.
Now, the reason for this post is: this thing is fucking brilliant. It's incredibly streamlined, very fast, very responsive, has tons of support and the gamepad feels great. Besides using it for the regular stuff (Netflix, Youtube, Plex, HBO Now, Amazon Prime, Hulu - last two with VPN - all lightning fast and in 4K HDR!!) I decided to give RetroArch a try and wow ... this works amazing.
Compared to RetroPie, this is soooo much better. You can emulate up to the Gamecube - most games run at 30fps or 60fps with few drops - and can even go up to 4K which is useful for older consoles where you want to add CRT filters or suchlike. The gamepad is very good for older games too with the layout being similar to a PS3 controller.
On top of that, this thing has Google Assist built in, even when turned off, it turns on and off your TV without you needing to touch the TV remote, the gamepad and remote have a touch area to set volume which is great, it has a Chromecast built in, can be used as a Plex server, can stream tons of games from Origin, Steam, etc., even has a dozen free (full) games like Tomb Raider free to stream, Steam Link built in, ... . Hooking up a hard drive works perfectly too if you want to store movies and music.
So ... if you want something beefier than a Rasperry Pi, something that has tons of options and stuff built in, in 4K with HDR, is awesome for retro gaming with a solid gamepad (or you can hook up Xbox or PS4 controllers or any BT controller for that matter) ... this is a damn good deal when it's on sale. It's also the most powerful Android TV on the market by a large margin.
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| Posted: Wed, 5th Dec 2018 15:46 Post subject: |
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I thought you needed quite some processing power to play 4K HDR movies. Is this not correct?
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| Posted: Wed, 5th Dec 2018 16:24 Post subject: |
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| Mister_s wrote: | | I thought you needed quite some processing power to play 4K HDR movies. Is this not correct? |
You do - the Shield uses a tegra X1 superchip which is able to handle that it seems. Amazon Prime supports 4K HDR and it looks great on the Shield - and at 60fps too, no cheating and lowering to 30fps.
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Morphineus
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Posts: 24883
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Wed, 5th Dec 2018 16:29 Post subject: |
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5 million vids since its launch years ago and on youtube. But good you finally discovered it. :>
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| Posted: Wed, 5th Dec 2018 17:16 Post subject: |
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| red_avatar wrote: | | Mister_s wrote: | | I thought you needed quite some processing power to play 4K HDR movies. Is this not correct? |
You do - the Shield uses a tegra X1 superchip which is able to handle that it seems. Amazon Prime supports 4K HDR and it looks great on the Shield - and at 60fps too, no cheating and lowering to 30fps. |
Ah you mean streaming. Did you try any 4k HDR mkvs on it?
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| Posted: Wed, 5th Dec 2018 17:57 Post subject: |
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It lacks 12bit support (which is used by Dolby Vision) but otherwise it can accelerate up to 10bit 4K HEVC just fine.
As far as I know there isn't a single consumer TV out there that supports 12bit anyway and the differences should be really small, so whatever.
TWIN PEAKS is "something of a miracle."
"...like nothing else on television."
"a phenomenon."
"A tangled tale of sex, violence, power, junk food..."
"Like Nothing On Earth"
~ WHAT THEY'RE TRYING TO SAY CAN ONLY BE SEEN ~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHTUOgYNRzY
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| Posted: Wed, 5th Dec 2018 23:01 Post subject: |
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| Morphineus wrote: | | 5 million vids since its launch years ago and on youtube. But good you finally discovered it. :> |
Well no-one I know heard about it, this forum has no topic about it and I'm subbed to tons of retro gaming channels that review all sorts of devices like Retropies and so on and yet the Shield never got mentioned which is why I wasn't even aware of what it really was - I thought it was just an expensive Android device to stream content to TV on, not realizing how powerful it was which is what makes it stand out really.
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| Posted: Wed, 5th Dec 2018 23:07 Post subject: |
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| Mister_s wrote: | | red_avatar wrote: | | Mister_s wrote: | | I thought you needed quite some processing power to play 4K HDR movies. Is this not correct? |
You do - the Shield uses a tegra X1 superchip which is able to handle that it seems. Amazon Prime supports 4K HDR and it looks great on the Shield - and at 60fps too, no cheating and lowering to 30fps. |
Ah you mean streaming. Did you try any 4k HDR mkvs on it? |
Never tried HDR files - I'd have to see which player on Android even supports. I'll get back to you once I've tried it.
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Morphineus
VIP Member
Posts: 24883
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Thu, 6th Dec 2018 00:33 Post subject: |
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| red_avatar wrote: | | Morphineus wrote: | | 5 million vids since its launch years ago and on youtube. But good you finally discovered it. :> |
Well no-one I know heard about it, this forum has no topic about it and I'm subbed to tons of retro gaming channels that review all sorts of devices like Retropies and so on and yet the Shield never got mentioned which is why I wasn't even aware of what it really was - I thought it was just an expensive Android device to stream content to TV on, not realizing how powerful it was which is what makes it stand out really. |
Strange, most of the retro stuff I watch mentions the Shield because that's pretty much the better performer unless you build your own PC, NUC or so. Especially around a sales period you see the shield getting the spotlight.
If you are a bit more interested in single boards and such I'd recommend checking out 'ETA Prime'. Some of the more interesting stuff: Odroid, Terasic DE10-Nano, The Shield,...
I never really mentioned it for emulation, because in some cases the Shield is a bit of a restricting bitch when you combine it with a NAS. It rather has you plug in an External drive... which is fine, just not for my set-up. And also the fact I do most of the gaming on the PC and only occasionally stream it via the Steam Link.
But its good you picked one up, at that price its a great Emulation box, Android TV (and an official device that gets frequent updates), Steam Link, Geforce now... I mean all that for 160€ is a great deal. Performs better than a Switch which also uses a Tegra X1 (modified) if I remember right. 
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| Posted: Thu, 6th Dec 2018 00:43 Post subject: |
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Last edited by Interinactive on Mon, 4th Oct 2021 09:32; edited 2 times in total
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| Posted: Thu, 6th Dec 2018 08:44 Post subject: |
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Ya also just picked one up, solved all my media issues, i jave 30tb automated plex setup + netflix for docos + gb's of nes, snes, amiga, 64 etc.. its just aggregates and runs everything nicely. Also casting to my old school plasma is super easy.
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| Posted: Thu, 6th Dec 2018 15:25 Post subject: |
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| Morphineus wrote: |
If you are a bit more interested in single boards and such I'd recommend checking out 'ETA Prime'. Some of the more interesting stuff: Odroid, Terasic DE10-Nano, The Shield,...
...
But its good you picked one up, at that price its a great Emulation box, Android TV (and an official device that gets frequent updates), Steam Link, Geforce now... I mean all that for 160€ is a great deal. Performs better than a Switch which also uses a Tegra X1 (modified) if I remember right. |
I watch Eta Prime quite often but only subbed since a year or so - most reviewed the Shield back in 2015 when it came with (according to the reviews) a pretty awful controller. The 2017 version seems to get far better reviews and I do love it.
And yeah, the main reason for this topic was exactly because I felt it was a tremendous deal for what you get - I've been looking for something like it for two years and it works really well. In any case, it deserves some good loving and I'm sure I'm not the only one who had only vaguely heard about it.
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