Nvidia Shield Android TV Console Review
Looks like Nvidia is going to push the Nvidia Shield into a cord-cutting killer. The Nvidia Shield transforms your experience from just watching TV to playing TV powered by Android and the latest technologies. The box is maybe about the size of an average full-size notebook. It will stream content in 4K. It is blazing fast and great for games, videos, and music. Here is our complete review of what the Nvidia Shield has to offer.
Nvidia Shield
The Nvidia Shield is relatively easy to set up. It feels amazing, has good weight, is very well built, and much smaller than you think. It cranks out everything that you can install on it and streams just about everything with ease. The Shield delivers 4K HD content from your favorite apps like Netflix and YouTube. With vivid 10-bit color and rich Dolby 7.1 surround sound make this a true home theater experience. It delivers performance that’s 34x better than Apple TV, 25x better than Roku 3, and 8x better than Fire TV. The included controller is also very well made. It is solid and very reminiscent of an Xbox controller. The system comes with games like Doom 3, Modern Combat 5, and many more. The nice part is Nvidia is updating the firmware on a regular basis. This will keep the Nvidia Shield relevant for the foreseeable future.
Nvidia Shield, Kodi, and Plex
If you are interested in installing Kodi or using Plex it will run like a charm. The Nvidia Shield with Kodi makes it one awesome media player. The one drawback is Android TV needs more apps in its ecosystem, hopefully with growing popularity more apps will be developed for it. Seriously, if you’re debating which box you should get, buy this one. High quality through and through. Movies and games play and sound great. The fact that you can download a web browser makes this device even better. It’s the best cord-cutting device on the market…beating the competition by a distance.
Over The Air Recording
The Nvidia Shield is also capable of recording over the air broadcast TV. All you need is an optional USB Tablo external tuner and antenna. The USB Tablo tuner will allow you to watch and record up to two shows at once.
Specifications
- Nvidia Tegra X1 with 3GB of RAM Processor
- Size 8.3×5.1×1 inches
- Weight 23 ounces
- Storage 16GB
- Gigabit Ethernet
- 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO Wi-Fi
- HDMI 2.0
- 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 Micro USB 2.0, 1 MicroSD slot
- a Shield controller and HDMI cable are included
- 4K entertainment and apps, powered by Android TV
- Google voice commands
- Google Cast support across Android and iOS devices
- Cool games
- Fast streaming and apps with 256-core NVIDIA processor
Pros
- Extremely Fast
- Stream Netflix in 4K
- Plex is already installed
- Google Play Music capable (3 free months of service for new users only)
- Great feeling controller
Cons
- Optional remote not included only game controller
- Limited apps
Where to Buy:
eBay:
Amazon:
Optional Nvidia Shield Remote
The Nvidia Shield remote has great size, weight, and build quality. The Google voice search feature is really quite incredible these days if you haven’t experienced it recently. Nothing like the old voice recognition of the past. It will understand complete sentences. You can launch apps, search for shows, music, actors, games all by talking into the remote. Control the volume with built-in Bluetooth connectivity and recharge the battery with the included USB charging cable. The useful headphone jack is perfect for late nights so that you don’t wake the wife and kids.
Where to Buy:
eBay:
Amazon:
Read more of our Android TV streaming device reviews here
Conclusion
If the Nvidia Shield keeps improving the available apps and services, this little Android box will be hard to beat.
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