Nvidia Shield Pro Android TV-Basic Questions

[diesteldorf]

I am strongly considering buying one and currently have my preorder placed on Amazon for a January 30 release.

I've decided to get the Pro version, since I think the 500 GB hard drive will be beneficial for storing music, movies, and videos.

I just had a few questions and was looking for some advice.

I currently have a Samsung Smart TV that already has Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video preinstalled. I also have a Chromecast 2nd Gen hooked up.

I am currently using a Pixel XL 128 GB as my primary phone and this already has the ability to Caste from the Screen to the Chromecast baked into Android.

If I want to display an app or video on my phone, I'll caste the Pixel's screen to my TV via the chromecast. The one disadvantage to doing this is that I can't use my phone while casting the screen, since the screen will change to whatever I am looking at during that time.

I am assuming that a Nvidia Shield would give me the potential to sideload any apps that were on my phone and allow me to run most of them directly from the Shield to my Samsung TV, thus freeing up my phone for other uses.

If I had root apps that were running on my phone, could I potentially, at my own risk, root the Nvidia Shield and run those same apps?

I currently have Kodi installed on my Pixel XL and have played around with it a little. I am confident that I will probably install Kodi on my Nvidia Shield Pro as well.

Does anyone know if Nvidia offers the easy ability to flash the Shield Pro back to stock, if I get tired of any custom software and/or mods?

One of the things I have always liked about Nexus/Pixel phones is knowing that I can do what I want to the device, within reason, and always have the easy ability to flash/restore the stock firmware if I ever change my mind or decide to sell the device in the future.

I'm not a huge gamer, but does anyone see any other advantages that the Nvidia Shield may offer that my Chromecast, Pixel XL, and Smart TV do not?

 

[Andrew Martonik]

If I want to display an app or video on my phone, I'll caste the Pixel's screen to my TV via the chromecast. The one disadvantage to doing this is that I can't use my phone while casting the screen, since the screen will change to whatever I am looking at during that time.

I am assuming that a Nvidia Shield would give me the potential to sideload any apps that were on my phone and allow me to run most of them directly from the Shield to my Samsung TV, thus freeing up my phone for other uses.

"Sideload" isn't really the word you're looking for here. Yes the Shield runs its own operating system and runs its own apps, so in that way it's different from a Chromecast because it can operate independently from a phone/tablet/computer. But you can't just sideload any old Android app from your phone to the Shield and expect it to work. You're going to have to install most (if not all) of your apps from the Play Store. There are tons of big media names in there, as well as games, and other fun little utilities.

You can check out some of the popular Android TV apps over on Google's site for the OS.

If I had root apps that were running on my phone, could I potentially, at my own risk, root the Nvidia Shield and run those same apps?

Most of the answer for this is contained above. Phone apps won't just automatically run on the Shield — they need to be designed to run on a TV with a remote.

I currently have Kodi installed on my Pixel XL and have played around with it a little. I am confident that I will probably install Kodi on my Nvidia Shield Pro as well.

You can install Kodi directly on the Shield without any sort of root or hacking

Does anyone know if Nvidia offers the easy ability to flash the Shield Pro back to stock, if I get tired of any custom software and/or mods?

One of the things I have always liked about Nexus/Pixel phones is knowing that I can do what I want to the device, within reason, and always have the easy ability to flash/restore the stock firmware if I ever change my mind or decide to sell the device in the future.

I'm sure that someone out there provides images to do so, but as far as I know NVIDIA doesn't offer factory images to force restore your Shield in the same way that you'll find on a Nexus device.

I'm not a huge gamer, but does anyone see any other advantages that the Nvidia Shield may offer that my Chromecast, Pixel XL, and Smart TV do not?

As you said the big bonus of the Shield Android TV is that it can operate independently of your phone, so that means that you can just pick up the remote and use it without having to open another app and cast separately over to the Chromecast.

You should also understand that the Chromecast can also receive signals from individual apps that can Cast and still let you use your phone at the same time, it doesn't just have to mirror the screen from your phone. Most popular media apps let you do this — once you've started the Cast using the Cast button in the app, you can do whatever you want on the phone and it doesn't interrupt the Cast stream on your Chromecast.