Price is decent but the only downside to this is it's usually dispatched within 1 to 2 months from the UK and probably (cannot confirm either way) has a UK plug.
CamelCamelCamel.
Yep, Google really shafted nVidia and us shield owners by forcing it into Google services.
Yep, you can roll it back to the previous version, however, that would mean the end of updates. It's hard to warrant $300 for this device now. $200 for the pro and $120 for the tube is a fairer price point.
Honestly I don't care about the small banner on the menu, I understand in principle but I don't sit watching that screen and stewing on it. I'm either watching something or playing a game streamed from my PC and tbh there just isn't another option out there so what'cha gonna do shrugs
@[Deactivated]: By small you mean taking up pretty much half the screen.. lol
Not to mention the recommendations cough shameless advertisements being wildly junkish and for services not subscribed to or even have installed.
@Xizor: Well that shows you how much time I spend on that screen lol, is it really half a screen and what is it advertising?
Edit/ is it the YouTube and Disney+ stuff at the top? If it is then I honestly thought that was just recommendations as it's Minecraft (my son is always YouTube'ing it) and a new show on Disney.
@[Deactivated]: Yep. So far for things for AppleTV, 9, YouTube Premium or whatever it is… mostly god awful teen content, social/woke, reality… nothing i'd watch in a thousand lifetimes. We flick a lot between about 5 apps (Kodi, Plex, Netflix, Prime, Tivimate). No doubt i'll get around to installing an alternate launcher sometime.
@Xizor: I just hope Nvidia come to their senses and at the very least give us the option to turn off that top 3rd panel. Totally unnecessary.
@ash2000: Wishful thinking. My understanding is most of this is server side not client side, and I doubt they are allowed to contractually anyway. Hopefully alternate launchers mature over the next few months because of this.
@Xizor: LOL…..and it might be different if it were making recommendations based on subscription services you already subscribed to, but no, it's advertising commercial content on apps (ie channel 9) that show advertising, or promoting content that is pay per view! Precisely what I thought I was buying the shield to avoid!
@[Deactivated]: I tend to agree. If the ads were of the "watch this video ad for 30 seconds before proceeding" I would find that untenable, but the banners don't particularly trouble me.
@[Deactivated]: I actually didn’t even notice it til someone mention it to me. I’m barely on the home screen.
@[Deactivated]: How do you stream your PC/gamestream to it? I had a brief attempt and it looked like it wasn't supported in Australia?
@Domingo: Streaming from your PC is supported, streaming from the cloud is not. That's a subscription service that is coming to Australia though soon, I believe Perth are getting it first.
@[Deactivated]: How do you do it? Is it software enabled? I did try it one stage but may have gotten confused - these days I use Google Chrome to cast the desktop but it's a bit clunky
@Domingo: Use the gamestream app on shield or moonlight app. Google guides on how to use them, you'll need a NVIDIA GPU.
@[Deactivated]: Cool thanks - I have a 1070 which looks to be compatible. Was eyeing that 6800XT but this, and ray tracing, might convince me to wait for 3080 price drops.
I just changed to Flauncher, took a few minutes to do. Just followed this guide
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndroidTV/comments/o96npc/ins…
What would be nice is if you didn't need to use ADB to change the Launcher.
It's an option I might have to look into.
But as I say, we paid $300-$400 for this device not just because of it's speed, but because of the regular updates to the native launcher, and because it contained no bloat or adware. Now the bloody launcher is adware!
I think I paid $230~ and primarily for gamestream.
Oh I agree, I was just letting you and others know of an option to sidestep their dastardly deed. Took about 6-7 minutes
You still get system updates etc
In the long run, it might be a good thing. There will be greater demand for 3rd party launchers as a result, hence greater developments and refinement of such launchers.
Looking at the FLauncher page they actually recommend just remapping the home button to open FLauncher rather than screwing around with ADB as per the guide you linked. Genius solution. I will give it a go when I get home, thanks for the recommendation.
Install another launcher, you will get rid of it. It's not a big deal
What a lot of people are missing here is this is the thin edge of the wedge. I'd wager the next step will be to lock out sideloading/custom launchers and/or full screen ads that can't be skipped/dismissed. I have disabled updates on my Shield and when I can't use it anymore will be looking at a non-Android device to stream my media.
There's a very good fix for this, it will block ads on all devices on your network, been using it for a while now, never see ads and it doesnt effect shopback/cashrewards either.
we have pihole and it does not block the big ad on google tv products
Yea alright, I haven't noticed said ads on my SHIELD, however I'm almost always in plex and never really on the home screen
Spoken like a true ozbarginer
If I don't play games, I don't play any media (e.g MKV, MP4 etc). I only stream Amazon Prime, Kayo, Youtube etc, is there is purpose getting this on top of a Chromecast Google TV?
The UI is a bit slicker due to the extra power in the Shield, and it has AI-upscaling, there's plenty of comparisons online. If that's all you plan to do I'd either go the Google device or the "tube" verison of the Shield if you can get it for a decent price.
Short answer is no, zero, zip, nada.
No. Chromecast with GoogleTV is all you need in that case.
The new Apps tab works well for me, so I've set up my Shields to use that - long press of the Home button, or a single press of the Menu button (Remotes and Accessories -> Customise Menu Button -> set Short Press to "Open All Apps view"):
Gamestream worth the cardinal sin of the new banner ads, boiz?
Absolutely
I've barely noticed the new banner tbh. I thought of it as a sort of beta to a more comprehensive recommendation section that'll include the services you subscribe to some day, but really it doesn't affect your day to day in any significant way. Press down to get to your apps. Done.
If anyone could confirm the plug, that'd be great. Or if you know the cost of a compatible AUS plug?
If it's the UK version it comes with a UK and Euro adapter (one DC supply with plugs that clip on). You could just use a cheap travel adapter to use it in Oz.
I'm shocked that prices haven't really dropped at all, it's been out since 2015, and is essentially a Nintendo Switch.
This is the 2019 model, but yes, all three iterations share the same (minor upgrade 2019) processor.
How does the Shield AI upscaling work?
Say a streaming content is at 720p at the source, does/can the Shield scale to 4K before it delivers the picture to the TV?
I'm a multi shield owner, however, my view of the device has greatly diminished since the latest update (GoogleTV Launcher) that forces content ads to the top third of the page. That's fine when you're buying Chromecast GoogleTV which is subsidised by such ads. It's not OK when you're dropping $300 on a device.