Nvidia Shield TV 2017 Model Android TV Console Review

Performance

Setting up the Shield TV couldn’t be easier, simply plug in the power, hook up an HDMI cable, go through a basic Google login process and you’re good to go. Of course, you may need to update the system first, and the Shield TV OS usually clocks in just over 1GB of downloading for a major update, but it’s important to do so if you want features like HDR, GameStream, GeForce Now, etc to work.

When booted, you’re given the same dashboard we saw on the last Shield TV model. It curates content from all your media sources into a feed. YouTube videos, GeForce now games, Android games, movies from Amazon, Netflix, Plex, the whole thing is there giving you ideas for what do to. It’s smart too, so the more things you do, the better the suggestions will become.

Straight from the main page, you can jump to your most important apps in seconds, plus you’ve got Play Store there for anything you think is missing.

You can check the status of your settings, peripherals and control the system power from the lower section of the home screen. Overall, it’s all pretty straightforward.

Of course, we want GAMES, GAMES, GAMES! So let’s put this tiny console through its paces and make sure it’s still got what it takes.

There’s a lot of options here, so let’s start with a native Android TV game, or three. We fired up Metal Gear Rising, The Witness and Resident Evil 5 for a few hours, and honestly, they ran absolutely perfect. I was expecting the smaller Shield TV to overheat due to its size, yet still putting out the same performance, yet it was barely warm to the touch after several hours of running native apps and taxing its built-in GPU!

The My Games section is interesting, it blends native android games, GeForce Now games, and games on my PC via GameStream into one library. This is amazing, at it means you only need a single hub to find and play all the games you have at your disposal, regardless of where it is in your gaming ecosystem.

GeForce now is fantastic, although it does need a swift internet connection to really get the most out of it. Nvidia render the games on their servers with graphics equivalent to what you would expect on the GTX 1080, giving you ultra settings on everything, 60fps, and all those other high-end PC gaming thrills, but without the need for a PC. The game streams to you as you play. You can buy games on this, but a monthly subscription gets you a decent library to get you started.

GameStream games are the same thing, but require the use of an Nvidia GTX 6xx or above-equipped PC. We’ve got a GTX 1080 in ours, so no issues there. It scans your PC for games, and as you can see, it has found Borderlands 2 in my Steam account.

I click this, it loads the game on my PC, the GTX 1080 does the hard work, and streams it in 4K 60fps to my big screen TV; PC gaming in the living room! Just make sure you’ve got a capable router to stream the video throughout your house.

GameStream and GeForce now are by far the defining gaming features of the Shield TV, allowing you more ways to play the games you want, on the screen you want, when you want. It just makes the whole “pick up and play” thing a lot easier.

Also on tap, curated Android games for you to play, obviously you need to download them, but there are lots of free games to get you started, as well as premium options.

Obviously, the Shield TV isn’t just for gaming, so with NetFlix, Amazon Prime, Plex and more on tap, you can enjoy all your other media too. With 4K HDR support, you’ll be able to enjoy the best video quality available to consumers today, and with Plex now supporting features like Dolby Atmos, you won’t be missing out on the audio performance either!