Nvidia Shield Android TV Review

Performance

There’s no doubt about it, the Shield TV is an extremely powerful device. It’s not limited by factors such as battery life, so Nvidia can push the limits of their new CPU/GPU combo as hard as they like, meaning the Shield TV is significantly more powerful than the Shield Tablet, which as many of you will know is no slouch its self. When it comes to gaming performance, I could wax on about how it runs this so well, that so well, but simply put, it runs Android games, especially so 3D heavy titles, better than any other Android device on the market, and that’s a simple fact.

The main dashboard or home screen is very nicely laid out, with a NetFlix style UI that’s a far cry from the standard Android interface, and it’s immediately apparent that it’s going to be better to use when you’re laid on the sofa with the remote in your hand. The top featured section shows all your most recent and favourite applications, videos, links, whatever and it’s automatically curated to suit the user based on habits. Here it’s at relatively stock values, with me only having loaded a single game since installation; it’ll improve in later images.

Down the page, we’ve got Shield Games, Game Stream and Geforce Now, which offer up Android gaming, local from main PC streaming and remote rendering (Nvidia GRID) game streaming; that’s a LOT of different options to play around with. In terms of multimedia, you’ve got NetFlix, Plex, Play Movies & TV, YouTube and more at your disposal, but remember, this is Android, so many more can be downloaded, this is just the pre-installed loadout.

Voice control has got better and better over the years and the Shield TV is super fast at picking up what you ask for and presenting the information, pulling results from Google, apps, your multimedia library and more in a fraction of a second. Ask for an app, movie, game, anything and you’ll get what you need.

The Google Play interface is nicely laid out, with large images and big icons, allowing from easy navigation when you’re sat far away from the screen. The Shield Controller can be used just fine, but it’s here that the remote works best, as it can be done with one hand and the directional control is great. The most important aspect, however, is the voice control.

Once you’ve had a bit of time with the Shield TV, the main dashboard starts to come to life, suggesting TV shows, games, music and more for you to watch at the tap of a button. Most of the media on show here is from my own Plex library on my NAS.

The built-in Plex at works great, and since I already use Plex and have a Plex Pass, my home network and libraries were immediately available; that includes and 4K content, not just HD. Video playback is smooth as silk and since I had the HDMI hooked through my surround sound, HD Master Audio tracks came through nicely too.

When it comes to multimedia playback, the Shield TV is a great device, as it’s really easy to navigate and control everything, even with the rather basic buttons available on the remote.

No matter which multimedia app you choose, they’re all backed up by that super fast Tegra hardware, so I doubt you’ll have any issues with performance quality. With 16GB of internal memory, you’ll find space for a good range of games and apps, but don’t worry too much about space, as you can pop a microSD card in the back to boost the storage.

Ready for some gaming? Say you buy The Witcher 3, you’ll get the GOG key, so you can play it on your PC, you’ll also unlock it on GRID, so that you can instantly stream the game from Nvidia’s servers, just hit play and wait a few seconds.

BAM, the game loads and you’re ready to rock.

There are a lot of cool games to play directly on the local hardware too, including a lot of free games and looking at the store, there’s plenty to come, including Borderlands, Resident Evil 5 and so much more.

Have games on your PC and a compatible Nvidia graphics card? You can render the games on your PC and stream them directly to the Shield. This means you can keep your gaming PC in your bedroom, but play the games in the living room. Just make sure you’ve got some kickass WiFi or a decent wired network for optimal performance.

Back to GeForce Now, as you can see I’ve already got some games on here, as I’ve been a Shield user for a while. They’re ready to launch from GRID or via local streaming anytime you want. Just keep in mind that 8mbps and a low ping are recommended for good performance, anything below that will be pretty choppy, anything above, smooth as silk.

$7.99 a month will unlock a great library of games ready for streaming, meaning that you don’t have to worry about building a game library. This is great as you can unlock a huge amount of games for such a small investment, on top of a £149.99 console, that’s cheaper than the current crop of consoles.

The games are split into categories and if you’re keen on some co-op action, you’ll find plenty to pick, just remember to buy a spare controller for a buddy.

Got kids? You can filter the content down to suit each user, so not chance of them watching the Witcher 3’s sex scenes when they’re left to play games.

All the usual setup features are here and laid out so that any newcomer to the device can work them out. You’ll also be glad to see we’ve got Google Cast built-in.

Pairing up controllers takes seconds, but since this has Bluetooth and USB OTG, you can hook up damn near anything and it’ll work. Keyboards, mice, controllers, headsets, USB hard drives and so much more.

Resolution defaulted to 1080p 60Hz, but you can get all the way up to 4K@60, that means 4K movie playback too. Just be sure that your display has HDMI 2.0 port that supports HDCP 2, if not you may find you’re limited to 30Hz, or stock 1080p 60Hz.

Shutting down the device simply isn’t possible, this is design to be an always on unit, but you can put it to sleep which will make the power drain negligible and turn off the front LED.