Nvidia SHIELD Android TV Review!

[dpham00]

Pros:
-Powerful device that runs smoothly
-Plex support and Media expansion via MicroSD card and/or USB stick
-"Best" Android TV box

Cons:
-Lack of some key app support like Amazon Instant Video
-Auto advancing issues in YouTube and Netflix
-Need additional hardware (GTX card) to really use many games, or use a paid subscription

Synopsis
My first foray into Google TV was with the Logitech Revue, and while it had good intentions, it really was poorly executed. I have been using the Roku 2 XS, which was pretty slow (but also about 5 years old), and although it technically supported gaming, gaming on it was a joke. Fast forward to today, the fine folks at NVIDIA were kind enough to send me a SHIELD to review. It is a very well featured Android TV with gaming capabilities and even comes with a gaming controller. Using it with the controller as a remote was a bit weird, and I preferred to use the smartphone app, since I always had it with me and it had a keyboard, however, they also have a remote that you can buy separately for $50, which honestly is a bit steep.

Overall, the NVIDIA SHIELD is really the BEST Android TV box that you can buy, combining streaming media player capability via Android TV with Gaming capability, for a reasonable price – So long as you are ok with the apps that it supports, or are ok with either streaming from your PC or using a subscription service.

Physical Design
http://forums.androidcentral.com/re...a/695196-nvidia-shield-draft.html#post5246094

Setup
http://forums.androidcentral.com/re...a/695196-nvidia-shield-draft.html#post5246095

Media Streaming
http://forums.androidcentral.com/re...a/695196-nvidia-shield-draft.html#post5246096

Gaming
http://forums.androidcentral.com/re...a/695196-nvidia-shield-draft.html#post5246097

Conclusion
http://forums.androidcentral.com/re...a/695196-nvidia-shield-draft.html#post5246098

 

[dpham00]

Re: Nvidia shield (draft)

Physical Design
Inside the box, you get the SHIELD unit, SHIELD controller, HDMI cable, microUSB cable, and a power adapter rated at 110V/220V,so can be used just about anywhere in the world. It only comes with the USA style plug though, so you would have to buy a different plug plate or just use an adapter.

The shape of the box is unique, and I am not quite sure how to describe it. It has sharp angles with raised ridges. I took a few pictures of it next to the Logitech Revue, Roku 2 XS, and HTC 10 for size comparison. It is pretty large, compared to my Roku 2 XS, however, it isn’t really a huge device overall, since the Roku is a really small device. NVIDIA does sell a stand for $30, should you need to prop it up. There is an always on bright green reverse check-mark light above the power button. The ports, from left to right, are microSD slot, micro-USB, 2 standard sized USB 3.0 ports, HDMI port, Gigabit Ethernet port, and a proprietary reversible power jack. The model that I have is the base model with 16 GB internal which retails for $200, however, there is also a 500 GB internal model which retails for $300. Keep in mind that you can use either the microSD card or a USB stick to use for media.

The controller is pretty well featured with two joysticks, a D-pad, ABXY buttons, L/R bumpers, L/R analog triggers, a multi-function Start button, Android Home and Back buttons, volume control buttons, a touch pad button, and a multi-function NVIDIA/Power button. It also has a headphone jack. The controller uses Wi-Fi so you don't need line of sight to use it, and charges with a microUSB cable (provided).


Remote
This separate accessory costs $50. The remote is very light and has a very nice feel. The front is mainly glossy with a raised grain finish to the left and right of the volume control. The volume is controlled by sliding your finger up or down the center channel. The glossy portion is a fingerprint magnet. The back has a grain finish. It is charged with a provided microUSB cable and includes a headphone jack.

 

[dpham00]

Re: Nvidia shield (draft)

Setup
After connecting the power, Ethernet, and HDMI cables, you will see the screen asking you to select whether to use the controller or remote. I chose to setup with the controller, since that is what came with the unit. I followed the on screen prompt, and held down the button until it flashed. As soon as it connected, I immediately got a battery very low message on the screen. It comes on for a few seconds and goes away. Unfortunately there is no battery indicator on the controller itself. The good news is that I was able to charge and use the controller at the same time. I used a battery pack (not included with the unit) to maintain some degree of portability. It then brought me to a screen to select language. Use the central NVIDIA green button on the controller to accept the language of your choice.

It then takes you to a screen to either use your phone or laptop or use your password. I chose to use my phone, which brings you to a screen asking for you to sign in using the link provided, and to make sure that the phone or laptop is on the same network. Unfortunately, it kept giving me an error message when I tried to sign in on the phone, so I tried to unplug the Ethernet connection. That just gave me an error. I then unplugged the SHIELD, turned it back on and it connected to Wi-Fi. This still didn't work. I ended up using my password which asked me to sign into my Google account, which worked, even with 2 step verification.

You are then prompted to press “Continue”, indicating that you agree with Google's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I looked through it and it is just the standard Google stuff. Next comes a screen asking about location services, and whether or not you agree to provide Google and third party apps with your location. You now come to a screen asking you to agree to Nvidia License Agreement and Privacy Policy. Again, I reviewed through it and it looked pretty standard. After this, it took me automatically to a software update to 3.1, which was 811.67MB. After the update, I was again asked to accept Google and Nvidia terms as well as location services. I was now taken to a screen explaining how to use the shield controller and remote. Finally, the setup is complete. I should also note that it updated to 3.2, which was 912.29MB, a few days after I got it.

At this point, I decided to power cycle the unit and plug in the Ethernet cable and also install the Android TV Remote Control App from the Play Store (https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...d=com.google.android.tv.remote&token=6-d3IGw_), and to try using the smartphone to control the Shield. All seems to work fine with the smartphone app. Personally, I prefer to use the smartphone app rather than hunting for the controller or remote, but I mainly use it for its streaming capabilities. Keep in mind that the smartphone app doesn't have any volume controls. The smartphone app also lets you use the phone keyboard in some areas, which is pretty convenient. For some reason, the app crashed once when I was using the keyboard, and force closing the app didn't work. I had to power cycle the phone and it worked again. I then went into the settings and disabled the system sounds, since I found them very annoying. The settings menu was pretty self-explanatory.

 

[dpham00]

Re: Nvidia shield (draft)

Interface, Usage, Voice Search, and Media Streaming
After the Setup was complete, you are taken to the main screen, with the search option at the very top. The default search is a voice search, but scrolling to the top will give you an option for a keyboard search. Below that is a row of recommended things to do, which I found to be pretty useless, but it would probably learn as you use the unit, so hopefully it will get better with time. Below that, you have a row for the SHIELD Hub, which are the SHIELD specific gaming features. Oddly enough, Netflix is by default on that same row. This is followed by a row for games (if you have games installed), and a row for apps. There are some setting options at the very bottom.

I opened the pre-installed Netflix app, and it automatically logged me into my Netflix account, since I used Google smart lock on my Android phone, which I thought was really nice. Apparently there is no easy way to get to the search within the Netflix app. You will have to scroll to the very top. There is no voice search, and when searching, I am not able to type using the Android keyboard, even with the Android TV app on my smartphone. It requires me to use the on screen “abcde” keyboard which leaves a lot to be desired. However it did load very quickly, and quality was excellent, although, I only had a 1080p TV, so I can’t comment on 4k quality or performance. There seemed to be some app issues in the Netflix app when auto advancing to the next video. When this happened, it would wait maybe 20 seconds and then come up with a connection error screen. You would have to press “OK” to exit, then back out of the app, and go back into it, and it would work again. This is especially annoying when you have a young child watching their favorite show and they see this weird screen... That isn't of their favorite show. I use Netflix all the time on both iOS and Android, and this isn't a problem. However, since Android TV has a much smaller audience, I am not sure if this would ever get fixed. This is an intermittent problem, but one that is very annoying. Performance within the videos was fine.

The YouTube interface was ok, but it had auto advancing issues like Netflix. I recorded some videos in 1080p, but the SHIELD would only allow 720p maximum. My Android phone lets me select 1080p for these videos.

I then went to the Play store and did a search for HBO Now so that I can binge watch Game of Thrones, amongst other things. In the setup process, I couldn't find my provider (Comcast), and doing a quick Google search indicated that HBO Now doesn't work with Android TV if you are a Comcast subscriber. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. It works with my Android phone, but not with Android TV. What's going on here? To be fair it does work with a lot of other providers - just not MY provider. This is probably some sort of a licensing issue, so hopefully it gets resolved soon. There is no XFINITY app either, for those who were thinking of using it to access HBO content. You can cast from an Android device to the SHIELD, but that is pretty inconvenient, plus it uses WI-FI, which I try to avoid as there are a lot of WI-FI networks at my house.

Next up, I searched for Amazon Instant Video, and, guess what? It doesn't support it either, even though it works on my Android phone. Hopefully, a deal can be worked out between Amazon and NVIDIA at some point in the future.

So much for that, I then tried to install VUDU, but by now I wasn't surprised that it wasn't there when I originally got the unit and updated to 3.1. A few days afterwards, I was pleasantly surprised that I got the 3.2 update, which came with the VUDU app. It has the same lack of voice search within the app, and uses the similar on screen “abcde” keyboard as the Netflix app. Also, there is no download option here, even though such an option exists on my Android phone and tablet. This is especially important for those on weaker connections, as downloading it before watching would provide a smooth viewing experience. You also can’t download movies in the Google Play Movies app, so it is probably an Android TV issue.

After setting up the apps that I frequently used, I tried to use voice search, and unfortunately, it is not very accurate at times. I had to say “VUDU” three times before it correctly picked the VUDU app. I thought that it could have been because the word was too short, so I tried something longer and tried to search for “The Good Dinosaur” and the first time it came up with “Texas Time Zone”. It did correctly identify the movie the second time. I tried to search for “ballet”, and it didn’t find any results. Second time didn’t find any results either. I have never had much luck with Google voice search, so this isn’t really surprising to me. I should also add that English isn't my first language, so that could be part of the problem. If Google voice search works well on your other devices, then you would probably be fine here.

After successfully searching for “The Good Dinosaur”, it came up with a screen to watch trailer on YouTube, buy on Google Play, or on VUDU. It doesn’t show that it is in my VUDU library. I then tried to search for “Cinderella. It again gave me an option to watch the trailer on YouTube or buy on Google Play, but this time, it didn’t even indicate the VUDU option, even though, again, it was in my VUDU library, which was a bit odd. I tried to search again, but came up with the same result.

The NVIDIA box has Plex pre-installed, and it can be used as a media server, so you don't need to have a dedicated PC or NAS device. I don't use a media server, but I installed the VLC app to access media on the SD card and USB stick, and both videos and music played fine.

The controller seems to frequently lose connection after a long period of inactivity. I have to wait a bit for it to re-connect. This wasn't a problem using the smartphone app. Also, when in use, the buttons light up on the controller, even when you are watching a video. As a tip, the setup didn’t mention it, but the “A” button is considered the “enter” button. Using the Android TV app on my smartphone was much better, and is what I normally used. With pretty minimal usage, the controller lasted about 12 weeks before the low battery light came on.

You can take screenshots by long pressing the home button, then select screen shot. It will save it to photos (internal memory). I didn't see an option to save go Google Photos or Google Drive directly. You can use ES File Explorer and log into your Google Drive account and copy the files from internal memory to your Google Drive, but it is probably the most difficult app that I have ever had to navigate.

 

[dpham00]

Re: Nvidia shield (draft)

Gaming
You can play Android TV games (SHIELD Games), as well as games through GeforceNOW and GameStream.


SHIELD Games
This is under the SHIELD Hub section, and includes recommended Android TV games, as well as a few SHIELD exclusive games like Half-Life 2: Episode Two ,Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut, Never Alone, and Funk of Titans. I tried to play a few games, and they all worked smoothly, using the included controller. The selection of games here are somewhat limited, so the SHIELD might not be for you if you only want to use the games here. However, there are the GeforceNOW (requires a paid subscription) and GameStream (requires a PC) options discussed below.

GeforceNOW
This is also the SHIELD Hub section. NVIDIA provides a game streaming service which costs $7.99 per month, where you can remotely stream games from NVIDIA's super computers. Some games are included in the streaming subscription, but many games will cost you an additional sum of money. You can review the latest list of included and paid games here:
https://shield.nvidia.com/games/geforce-now

GameStream
Many major current titles aren't available on the SHIELD. If you have a PC with a GeForce GTX 650 or higher card, then you can use the NVIDIA GameStream service to stream the game from your PC to the SHIELD. Keep in mind that not all games are fully supported by the provided controller. You can review the current list of supported games here:
https://shield.nvidia.com/game-stream

 

[dpham00]

Re: Nvidia shield (draft)

Conclusion
This is the BEST Android TV box out there, and really the only option. The Nexus Player has been discontinued and the Razer Forge TV seems to be mired with issues and has an Amazon rating of 1.9/5.0 (SHIELD has a 4.3/5.0 rating). It is a very well performing unit, but unfortunately, Android TV lacks a lot of apps, and even apps it has like HBO GO won't work with Comcast, and let's not forget that Amazon Instant Video isn't supported. Even the apps that it has tend to not be as refined as their Android or iOS counterpart

If you want a media streamer then an Apple TV or Roku would be a lot cheaper. If you want a full fledged gaming console as some hardcore gamers would, then go with the Xbox or Playstation, which would be a little more, but provide a the best gaming experience gaming experience. However, if you want a media streamer and want to play PC games on your TV, then this is a good choice, provided that you have compatible hardware, since you don't have to buy a separate gaming console, nor do you have to re-buy PC games on a gaming console interface. You could also use the GeForceNOW service, but do you really want to pay a monthly subscription AND pay for games? Sure some hardcore gamers would (if they chose to use the SHIELD instead of an Xbox or Playstation), but most casual gamers probably wouldn't.

To be fair to NVIDIA, they really did a heck of a job on the SHIELD, however, there are limitations to the Android TV platform that they are stuck with. The SHIELD is a powerful and easy to use unit, and I would recommend it - but only if it meets your needs, at full retail. Now it is currently (as of July 12, 2016) $150 for the SHIELD with two controllers, which I think is an excellent deal, considering that the controller itself runs $60. At that price, I can wholeheartedly recommend the SHIELD unit for those wanting a streaming box and some casual gaming at the aforementioned $150 price.

http://www.androidcentral.com/save-more-100-nvidia-shield-android-tv-and-second-controller