Review: NVIDIA Shield TV 2019
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jststojc
Nice review, thanks.
Whats the difference between the old Shields (2015/2017) and this new one that the old ones cant support the AI enhancement?
I find it bad that the non pro version has less ram and the pro version just as much ram as in the normal Shields from 2015/17. And they cost more than the 2015/17 models as they came out...
Richard Nutman
Why is it cylindrical ?
rl66
There is 2 version the cheap one that is cylindrical and can be take everywhere and so the strange cylindrical shape (that is really cool at the use btw), and the "pro" expensive one where an HDD or a SSD can fit inside and that have more memory, that look like the old one but way more small.
Amazon, and Google TV also have strange design shape for their TV box, but the 2 best in quality are NVidia Shield and AppleTV.
It's the same as the AppleTV4K: the less expensive is far than enough even at high resolution 😉
Nice review Hilbert.
Hilbert Hagedoorn
Administrator
Literally .... I've written all that in the review .. SoC performance, the new Shield is clocked faster (and fabbed at a new smaller fabrication process) to allow that new AI algorithm.
geogan
Nice review. I still really like my 2017 model and use it basically every day - as the Sony projector I use does not exactly have a "smart TV" interface, none at all in fact 🙂
I don't really like that cylinder design but i understand that is the "cheap" to be hidden version, designed to look like the Amazon sticks of this world. I would still get the traditional design to sit with my AV gear.
Yes the speed and responsiveness is king here. And I do use it for PLEX from a large NAS server. Even apps like youtube are very slick on this device, compared to the much slower TV apps (and I have 2019 model LG TVs)
jststojc
Sir, i read the review, hence i cant understand it, that the old ones are supposedly not able enough. As far as you wrote it and i understood it, its the same SoC, just on 16nm instead of 20nm, the freq bump is minimal at best. But there is nothing written about any extra parts/units like tensor cores/npu etc, that could make this really shield 2019 exclusive. So theoretically the old shield with a bit of OC should be physically able to support the AI enhancement, or perhaps even without an OC, as i doubt that the new shield runs at full speed when doing the AI enhancement.
Not here to quarrel, but i find it really peculiar/illogical what nvidia is saying and thought perhaps you had other info that the rest of us dont.
thanks again
Reddoguk
Android 9 pie is not the latest version, there's Android 10 out and 11 is in the works stage too. So i wonder if it's like the phones that only get support for 2 OS upgrades. My Samsung phone is meant to get 10 and then no more because it came with Android 8 installed then it updated to 9 pie and i was told i would get 10 but not 11.
CyberSparky
I love my Pro. I finally got some other apk's installed and a few emulators. Sounds quality is good and the 4K AI Upscaling is really nice for older flicks or lower resolution vids. I also installed a 4TB drive and have tons of space. I can foresee using this thing for years to come.
Hilbert Hagedoorn
Administrator
I am afraid that is not a question I have an answer for. While it is the same SoC, the clock increase is significant enough and likely needed as the AI feature does require processing performance. I have no doubt the older versions wouldn't/couldn't be compatible, but whether or not they are powerful enough is only something NVIDIA can answer.
ruthan
I needs internal M.2 slot, whole easy that compact design will fail, if you will connect some clunky USB 2.5 disk, first Shield had 500GB variant
sykozis
I've been using the "cylindrical" NVidia Shield TV for about 3 months now..... The only thing bad I have to say about it, is the price. I use it to stream movies from Google Play and Amazon. I also use it for watching TV... I use an HDHomerun Prime TV tuner with CableCARD and the HDHomerun app on the ShieldTV, as well as Pluto TV. I really like the triangle remote. The backlit buttons aren't very bright, but they're sufficient to see them clearly in a dark room. I didn't read the review because, well, I've owned one for 3 months now. The new remote has built in IR, which allows it to control volume on your TV, which is a nice addition and works very well once setup.
For me, the MiBox-S is more budget friendly for the features. I'm not doing anything with the ShieldTV that I wasn't doing before with a MiBox3..... However, only needing 1 remote (other than turning on the TV), is worth the additional cost. If I can get 4 years out of this like I did the MiBox, I'll be happy.
fry178
@hh
do i see an A1E there?
Hilbert Hagedoorn
Administrator
No that's the A9F actually.
Hilbert Hagedoorn
Administrator
Sorry, but how is the forum not mobile responsive right now?
rl66
on my phone both work fine, but the "normal" feel better
rl66
On other hand, if you link a NAS, it is the same thing and more convenient solution, as usable from phone, computer, game system etc etc
If you really need more storage there is the Pro version that have kept the extra storage and have more memory too... and is a bit more expensive.
rl66
By the way Hilbert it would have been nice to compare to a genuite Google android TV to see how far NVidia have gone with Shield with the same OS basis.
(Google is way behind in nearly all review)
vestibule
Well I guess that beats an AMD CPU trying to play a 4K blu ray.
Caesar
i do not see any USB port... 😕
Edit:
https://imgbbb.com/images/2020/03/21/s-e.png
rl66
An Athlon 220GE do it very fine with a small GPU (and before it was a Pentium G3248 doing it)... it's not a problem of CPU lol
