Certainly seems performant enough, but will it get any exclusives. Even to the entire shield platform at least. Android games are....Ok, but hardly take advantage of the latest and greatest chips, most run fine even on my Moto G. Streaming is also neat, but I'd really like to see some exclusives that really target these high end chips with controllers.
What titles. I hope no body thinks they will be even remotely close to AAA level experiences. No developer is going to risk that kind of money on this machine. They will be cheesed low end android crap.
Not sure what you're talking about. With unreal 4 and unity 5 engine support on android now you'll start to see some REAL games and they already have real PC ports (serious sam 3, Trine2, Portal, halflife 2, KOTOR etc). You might say PC ports are old (but they are AAA games), but if you know the sales #'s of each of these you understand not more than ~10mil played any of these titles that NOW can easily be ported to Android for a FULL (albeit older) PC game experience. More of these will likely come first, but by this xmas or next we'll start to see what unity5 and unreal 4 can produce. We are already way past angry birds...LOL. Trine 2 isn't a great looking title? That's a 2011 PC game. What exactly do you want? Trine2 runs on K1, we're already at X1 and 14nm Samsung fabbed version is coming for xmas (likely with return of Denver cpu amped up and more polished). We are not even taxing X1 yet, and the xmas version at 14nm will eat it alive. You clearly don't browse android games much to see what is already ported or new out there.
This console has more power than an xbox360 or ps3. Not sure why you'd think we're talking Minecraft here or something. If you called xbox360/ps3 AAA experiences what is the difference? You can call that barely beating last gen, but this is the new xbox360/ps3 experience for the poor (or alternative gaming for me that isn't PC etc) who can't afford xbox1/ps4 price tag nor the $60+ games prices that come with those.
On top of that, you don't need a $600-1000 PC to play at 1080p 60fps. For a monthly fee of even $15 (180/yr) you'd get FAR more than 3 console games at $60ea correct? Right now (free) you get 50 games that can stream like this and surely many more coming year after year. The sheer value of GRID gaming here is massive for a person who doesn't have $60 a month to keep their kid playing xbox1/ps4 games. I'm going to guess there will be a $10 fee for 720 and $15 for 1080p gaming but you can insert whatever numbers you want here, I'm just making the point about affordability for amount of fun you get. Mind you as graphics amp up, GRID keeps you from needing to upgrade. Nvidia can easily make sure you're always getting the fps that is being sold to you. They can keep dropping servers around also to keep latency in check.
To your dev point, incorrect. Worst case scenario they can make it exclusive for 6mo-1yr then if sales suck port to PC or allow regular android to use it. You are forgetting that 1yr from now ALL gpus (14nm by then everywhere) will have X1 levels of gpu and if that's not the case by then 10nm isn't far behind. Also if NV wins the suit, everyone will be paying for NV gpu IP (great for devs) at some point. IF you make an unreal4/unity5 game here, you can easily port the thing to PC probably in a few weeks tops and it is running the exact Nvidia hardware there for ~75% of the discrete market on PC's. You're mistakenly acting as if you make a TEGRAZONE based game (meaning special for NV tegra hardware effect), it can NEVER run anywhere else...LOL.
It took a few weeks to port most of these titles. http://www.tegrazone.com/games/witcherba Just an example of your crappy games.. Looks pretty fun to me. http://www.tegrazone.com/games/oddworldsw Listen to the dev. 1st time in 1080p on mobile etc. Can't beat the price of $6 either. Full 20+hrs just like all the other full games I mentioned that MOST of the world hasn't even played. We see some REALLY great PC games being made for $2-10mil, so I'm pretty sure a dev aiming at top tegra devices won't have a problem shifting titles elsewhere if needed 6 months-1yr later. They are coming with a shield update this xmas (or before) too, so at some point you're going to have millions on these anyway much like a console and that's not counting the fact that lawsuits may lead to all of mobile being NV/AMD at some point (on the gpu side, ARM whatever on the cpu side). I can see myself playing many games with key/mouse on BT when gamepads don't work right also (large rpg game like Baldurs Gate on TV for instance etc). Like I said, massive cheap ports first, then use the cash from those to fund BIG new IP. At worse making a potent game here, only means you'll wait for 2yrs for everyone to be able to play it as gpu power surpasses X1 for even the junker tablets/phones etc at 10nm. IF you don't like waiting that long port to PC etc. You seem to not understand 2Billion units are sold yearly from here on out, which means 2Billion can play any android AAA title very soon. Far faster than say, waiting for consoles to get even 50mil on either side of MSFT or Sony (what is that 5yrs from now?). I'll take the 2Billion side if I'm a dev as GDC 2014/2015 surveys both show they have.
NV can also pay $2-4mil x 25 games to get exclusives they perhaps OWN (say 20mil on 5 top exclusives yearly? Hopefully more?), and then do the same at a later date by porting to PC etc. It's not risky knowing they can port easily to the same gpu on PC. I really hope they start funding games in this range for AAA experiences aimed at X1+. At some point they'll tell us numbers sold on a unit (maybe xmas handheld or android tv here), but not likely until they have a million unit sales launch or something. Maybe they'll wait for an unreal 4 engine showcase game to give us that data. Imagine what 10nm HBM2 version of Tegra will bring to the table...ROFL. Hopefully something from AMD then too for this type of stuff.
http://www.tegrazone.com/news/tabletssurpass EA, tablets will surpass consoles, and add more to the bottom line THAN consoles. Simple math. Starting 2017 consoles have a real problem if not before as better games launch. HBM2 with 10nm socs will make some waves in replacement devices for what we have today and many problems will be created even at 14nm shortly as everyone rolls that out probably a few devices using HBM1 too in this next gen of ARM devices etc. WiiU just hit 10mil devices sold, and they have some AAA experiences correct? ;) Vainglory from iOS just got ported to NV. Between apples next devices (A9), NV's current and their next model at xmas, qcom's next model (after 810), etc you will have a 100mil+ (likely far higher) that can do X1 gpu levels and likely with 128bit bus everywhere adding more fuel. I really don't get your point ;) Have you seen modern combat 5 blackout or asphalt 8, Order & chaos online, Dungeon Hunter 4 etc? Not angry birds and neither aimed at X1 levels. Haters gonna hate I guess...
It has nothing to do with capabilities. Try and understanding what I was actually saying. No developer is going to invest the time and money needed to make high end games for this thing. The return on investment isn't even remotely there.
I am really not sure what you are talking about. Border Lands, the new Metal Gear, Doom3, Half Life, Star Wars series, Portal, Shadow Run, and many more..and I am sure that they will get the newer games as well.
I understand what your trying to say and also agree, its about having limited engineering resources and the IMMEDIATE return on having them churn out product that will have the best chance of selling the most... in other words when you look at who out there owns this thing (remember not talking about all Android users just the ones with the graphical horsepower) its minute vs say PCs and consoles... while gaming is a passion to us its a business to them and in a crowded gaming platform field this one doesn't have the user base or differentiation to stand out.
if you look at the reasonable model, the one with the 500GB drive, it's only $50 less than the Xbox One and the PS4, which are orders of magnitude more powerful than the Shield. for only $40 more, wouldn't you want a top of the line next generation gaming console with hundreds of games and hundreds more committed?
if you're looking at the 16GB model (with 10GB of usable space), you won't be able to load more than a few high-end games. you can load them onto an SD card, but that's slower, and you *can't* store game data on the SD card, so if it's a game that downloads content, you're screwed.
i wanted to love the shield, but the price is silly. there's just no way they can compete with the subsidized prices of the Xbox One and PS4.
I'm pretty sure they aren't. I'd be surprised if the consoles get more than 6x the performance.
(That would equate to something like a comparison between 10fps and 60fps for a given display size, so it's not like it means nothing, but that's not even ONE order of magnitude.)
Perhaps not but Tegra X1 might be Maxwell but it's only 256:16:16 with 512 GFLOP SP performance. That in the realm of a GT 730...and the GDDR3 730 is faster than that, lol. In AMD-speak that's around equal to an R7 240.
PS4 OTOH is a little below an R9 270 (around a GTX 660) and has over 1800 GFLOP SP performance. "On paper" it's already about 4x faster computationally, and it has about 7x the VRAM bandwidth.
Trying to compare a 7850/R9 270/GTX 660 to an R7 240/GT 730 is lulz though and it's very hard to find any kind of direct comparison between the two because they're never tested together and low end cards are typically tested at lower res and settings than higher end ones. It may not be actually an order of magnitude difference quantitatively but that's not really here nor there in the real world. In 1080p, we're talking about the difference between 10-15 FPS (i.e. totally unplayable) to 30-50 FPS (not spectacular but still very playable), between the two. The qualitative difference between 10FPS and 30FPS is HUGE so it seems like "an order of magnitude" in realith.
Nevermind the CPU side is well behind the 4M/8T Jaguar x86 CPU in the PS4.
And it'll do jack for selling Tegra devices because:
1 - Such games have been in the PC for years or even a decade. Whoever wants to play them, can do it on a PC.
2 - Being greedy and making these games exclusive to Tegra devices/consoles means they won't ever enlarge the market for higher-end games on Android, which in turn won't ever raise the demand for higher-performing Android devices (like Tegra X1).
People are replacing their computers with tablets and things, so I could imagine someone junking their six-year-old computer and getting this, and just getting a large phone for any mobility needs.
I personally don't have any of the latest consoles or a new TV; so if I was going to get one right now, I'd try to get a 4K TV and this console would be really tempting.
Nintendo should come out with an Android-based console. And start making mobile games that can scale up to tv size. And let us play touch optimized pokemon on our phones dammit.
Why android? They have ARM consoles, they know to do touch. Going android just makes it easier for other android users to get Nintendo games pirated...
Nintendo can design a competent OS. The fact their OS runs smoother than Android did for years on Hardware that Android would choke on isn't really a negative.
I'm not joking either, the sad part. And, why would the hardware force them to? Why would they risk people being able to pirate all their games super easy?
The 3DS, sure, modern android would choke on that hardware. But the design of getting around is still pretty byzantine. Anywho. The Wii U though? With 2GB RAM, half reserved for the OS, and three PowerPC750 based processor cores at 1.2GHz, the thing is still terribly slow for something released so recently. Meanwhile Android is butter with four low power Cortex A7 cores and does ok on 1GB RAM total.
Not saying they should or shouldn't. And I'm not sure it would make piracy easier - even going with Android, being open source they can add their old security. Not that the Wii or DS were very secure from piracy either.
And what I mean by the 3DS bit...I picked up a 2DS from Target Canada while they were liquidating, half off so I thought what the hell. Didn't have much chance to use it until now.
Went into street pass, there was an update available. Ok, go for it. Hit ok, confirm ok, yes it's ok it will take a while. Loads for a minute, then tells me I need to do a system update first. Figure out how to do that, easy enough. Start system update, confirm system update, yes it's fucking ok it will take a while. System update done.
Go back to streetpass plaza, start update. Hit ok, confirm ok, yes it's ok it will take a while. Connecting to online account. Cool. Takes a minute. Then tells me I don't have enough SD storage space. You couldn't check that first?! There's a message that tells me where to go to free storage. So, why can't there just be a button within the message that takes me there?
It could be because every time you close software, there's a button to really close it, and then a confirmation dialogue. Ach, getting real tired of your shit, Nintendo. A few more seconds of wait after you hit the *real* close button, too, because...I dunno. Nintendo.
Delete some crap. Go back to install the thing. Hit ok, confirm ok, yes it's ok it will take a while. Works this time. Go through the new Plaza to see what's new. Go through a bunch of dialogue with a talking rabbit just to see screenshots of each game. You can hold R, but it's still pretty slow.
Did I mention slow? The byzantine software layout may not even bug me as much if the thing was fast, but this is *really* slow. It's old hardware, I get that, plus it was low end hardware even at launch, but that doesn't stop it from being aggravating. The eShop being the worst of it. Going back and forth through pages is painstaking.
Some people have and probably will try to remind me that Nintendo is focused a lot on children. I honestly don't think even kids need all this padding though - this is the iPad generation, they'll get the hang of things in a jiffy, and don't need three confirmations from a talking dildo or whatever weird crap Nintendo wants to do every time they open or close software or after they've already said yes to a download.
Even with more attractive games on it than smartphones have, I find myself almost reluctant to use it every time for the slowness and very pre-iPhone software.
Nintendo just needs to give up on the hardware aspect and just distribute software. I would even pay for oldies like Excite Bike on iOS/MS Store/Google Play. I think they can still do regular consoles, but I have been disappointed with them. Good peripherals is still a market they could sell for.
If anything, just sell the old stuff on those other services a make a dollar.
If I were them, I'd work with a vendor to design a Nintendo Phone. Like, imagine an LG phone with Nintendo branding, a thumbstick, and four buttons? Maybe shoulder buttons, too. Whatever they could fit. (They might be able to get away with shoving all the usual 3DS buttons on.)
This is more what I was referring too. If Nintendo focused on releasing software (to the Android/iOS market where they'd make the biggest splash) then wouldn't a Nintendo set top box like this Shield make sense too? It would just be the Nintendo-branded and skinned Android box, maybe with some extra Nintendo-specific features thrown in.
Why would they do that, I'm still pretty happy with my WiiU and their hardware offers something that noone else does, or usually copies it in one way or another. Besides Nintendo is sitting on a lot of cash, possibly more as Microsoft and Sony game divisions together anyway, so there's no fear of them going away anytime soon.
Aside of that, they are the only company making consoles relatively affordable and kid friendly. Just as an example The Xbox/Playstation UI are an abomination to navigate for a 6 to 10 year old. And most importantly, Nintendo is focusing on games, not being the center of your living room, I'd gladly strip both the Xbox One and Playstation 4 of all the useless features (to me) if they offered them for $250.
Through the Play Store, an app needs to be flagged as supporting the 10ft Android TV UI in order to show up. Though you can sideload practically anything.
I'm pretty sure he's referring to native 24 Hz output, or more than likely, 23.976, as most content (such as the video on Blu-ray discs) is encoded at 23.976.
They say it supports FLAC. It is lossless and should support different sampling rates and bit rates. It is free. Maybe Ganesh refers to some other proprietary format that SHIELD TV is lacking?
I was referring to lossless HD audio - like the type of tracks in BD-Audio discs or even certain Blu-ray soundtracks. - DTS-HD MA and TrueHD - [ http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=91776 ]
Thank you. Are those codecs widely used outside of Blu-ray discs? As the SHIELD is not a Blu-ray player, those codecs are only important if they are used in streaming services. Unfortunately I don't know what Netflix or other services uses.
Ok. Then the question is, is it possible to transcode DTS-HD soundtracks to multichannel FLAC streams while ripping the Blu-ray disc, and if, what do you lose in the conversion? FLAC (and HDMI) can handle up till 8 channels high res audio. Is there some problem with the AV receiver understanding such streams? If not, it would be recommended to rip Blu-ray discs into a format that SHIELD TV can play back. Re-encoding old rips should not be too difficult - just takes some time and electricity.
In any case, the easiest ripping scheme is to extract tracks without any transcoding. If the end-player can't support the resulting rip, then it is not something ideal - After all, there are probably other players which do support it.
In the case of the SHIELD, the only thing unique about it from a video playback perspective is support for 4Kp60 HEVC decode and HDMI 2.0 / HDCP 2.2 for 4K Netflix. If either of those are important to you right away, then you will be very happy with the SHIELD Android TV. If they are not urgent requirements - the only aspect preventing me from whole-heartedly recommending the SHIELD Android TV is that it is a closed embedded platform unlike a PC. We need something open and extensible like a HTPC that will also have full HEVC decode and HDMI 2.0 / HDCP 2.2
Thank you for your patience. It seems you are right - there is only commercial software for decoding dts-hd, so a free program like Handbrake can only pass-through the soundtrack, and then SHIELD can't play it.
DTS-HD MA is getting there. The mad boffins behind libav got Dolby TrueHD done sometime in the last 2 years, and now DTS-HD MA is left. Of course, this still requires you to decrypt the BR, but that's another story entirely.
What I really want to know that the review doesn't cover: will Plex on the SHIELD Android TV decode HEVC video or will it still end up streaming a transcoded copy from the Plex server? If it decodes it using the SHIELD hardware, I'm buying one. If not... I might still buy one, eventually, I guess.
Should not that be up to the Plex app? On an Android tablet Plex does often unnecessarily re-encode video. The reason is probably that the included video player is limited in its playback capabilities. It is possible to use some other more advanced video player (like MXPlayer or VLC) so that Plex only hands the video stream to the player and skips the unnecessary re-rencoding.
Ask the Plex developers how their app behaves on Android TV.
Plex has to build a profile that specifies what a device is capable of. Seeing as how they probably didn't have a unit in for testing, it probably won't be enabled just yet.
The gaming onscreen tests are at 1080p i assume, wish you would have done them at 4k too, seems odd not to. On the power consumption side, data on some more devices would have helped. Maybe you can add some power data and 4k benches, would be helpful. The price is gonna limit this one, they'll sell 10s of thousands of units per quarter by pricing it at 2x the 99$ max price allowed instead of going 99$ and competing with Chromecast and Apple TV. Hope GRID is just not ready for that kind of scale and that's why they price it not to sell. Since the storage is extremely limited, especially given the PC ports they advertised at launch, some data on SD card/external storage perf might be useful.
I think the pricing is kind of reasonable at the moment. You can't buy anything with a processor this capable for $99. Will be interesting to see what Apple does with a next gen Apple TV device though.
The question is not a matter of capablability but of utility. A $20-$30 chromecast does most of the functions. A smart TV by itself can do some. The Shield is a luxury device. Using nothing or a Roku on bottom to a ps4 or a htpc on top. Fitting in the middle and attacking a niche is this product. What does the more capable processor provide I've alternatives and am I willing to pay a little more for significantly more capability? That's the value question.
"Though it’s a bit of circular logic to say that NVIDIA is intending to exploit these same advantage in the SoC space as they have the desktop space – after all, Maxwell was designed for SoCs first – Maxwell’s capabilities are clearly established at this point."
There's a difference between circular logic and redundancy (much like there is a difference between circular logic and a tautology). To say that NVIDIA is intending to exploit the power-efficiency in the SOC space is simply redundant after you already said that NVIDIA designed the architecture that way in the first place. The citing of power efficiency in desktop products is simply giving evidence of power-efficiency. There's no implication of EXTRA power efficiency more than what was originally designed in the architecture by moving from desktop GPUs to the SOC GPUs. How can circular logic appear when no implication is being made?
"Ultimately it’s clear that the SHIELD Android TV is heavily overspeced compared to other Android TV devices – no one else is pursuing this premium market..." Perhaps because the market isn't large enough to justify a product aimed solely at it? Nvidia can leverage their streaming GPU stuff and a bunch of other stuff no other players really have.
Even with that, I don't think the market is large enough to support one player.
If I use a receiver and send the audio via bitstream to the receiver, will it play or not? I don't see why bitstreaming of audio requires a license? I thought the license is only required to actually decode the audio on the device and play some downmixed version of it.
How does it handle external storage of apps? Android has typically been OK about reading media from an SD card, but it's recently been more and more restrictive about how apps can interact with external storage. Does Android TV (or some Nvidia custom magic) solve that problem? With only 16GB internal (and surely less user accessible) it will quickly run out of room if you want to install games. Recent experience with an Xperia Z3 and Nvidia Shield Tablet have not been promising on this front, at least without root access. The Xperia will copy some data to the external storage device, but still leave some on the internal, and the Shield Tablet is really picky about what games it will transfer to external storage. I'd want to just plug a 2TB portable drive into this thing, have it install everything there, and never think about it again, but based on past experience I'm worried that won't work.
I know they want people to use GRID, but until data caps go away that won't be practical in many places.
The SATV can handle apps on SD cards. In fact it has a feature to automatically move newly downloaded apps to the SD card in order to better utilize the space it provides.
I didn't have much interest in this product or any of the previous Shield products, but with Windows Media Center's impending doom with Win10 and the prospect of Silicon Dust's HD HomeRun DVR as a viable replacement, I may have to look into getting one.
It certainly seems to pack a lot of value and possibilities into a very small price tag of $200. I'm just not sure on the naming/branding, but I guess they think the Android TV aspect may have a higher demand than some of the gaming initiatives they are slowly building upon.
they really should make a $150 version that is just the console. Probably would increase sales quite a bit... Although, the controller and stuff is probably well under $50 to make however.
Yeah, especially when you have controllers like the PS4 or Xbox One which do a far superior job in ergonomics, any other company that attempts to make a controller falls pretty flat on their face.
Have you used the shield controller yet? I personally had my doubts when I bought the tablet but its now my fav controller with the volume and mouse features I wish every controller had.....really awesome and could actually make the ps4 less of a nightmare if you ever wanted to think about using their browser.....ha......also the GRID streaming on the tablet is amazing so I will 100% be getting this....I didn't even know this existed until after I got the tablet and it blows anything else I've used out of the water....just my opinion
NVidia has chosen to chop off their mobile division and have openly stated they are no longer pursuing mobile devices like phones. Why would they gimp the chip to have a mobile chip when they aren't interested in mobile anymore?
Not designing for a space and not having a product that can fit it are two different things. Over the course of all the runs for the X1 Nvidia might get enough "bad" chips to do a series that could fit into a phablet.
Of course, for Nvidia's sake, I hope their yields don't allow for that :)
Nvidia long ago stopped pursing phones because phone OEMs basically wanted chips with integrated LTE modems and Qualcomm had the best. Why go with a Tegra when you can get a Snapdragon that already has everything you need?
LTE tablets sell for a much larger margin, and it costs a hefty amount of engineering time to design two different platforms for the same product, then certify it, so they stick to the usual Qcomm stuff by and large.
Tellybean is the first video call service on Android TV and the SHIELD is the first device that works with a regular Logitech camera. Try it out and please let us know what you think. http://eepurl.com/blSzU9
How does the performance compare to the XB1 and PS4? Those would seem to be the two immediate competitors for this device. It seems like Anandtech has grown too focused on comparing everything to Tablets/phones...
"How does the performance compare to the XB1 and PS4?" — It doesn't. This is just hardware: Sheild Android TV — 256 CUDA cores(at ~1GHz), 16ROPs, 16TMUs, 3GB of RAM with 25.6GB/sec bandwidth Xbox One — 768 GCN cores(at 853MHz), 16ROPs, 48TMUs, 8GB of RAM with 68.2GB/sec bandwidth PS4 — 1152 GCN cores(at 800MHz), 32ROPs, 72TMUs, 8GB of RAM with 176GB/sec bandwidth
Given that basically all TVs now are "smart", what are real advantages of device such as this one over a Smart TV? I am talking video and content playback, of course.
While I do not own 4K TV, my 1080p Samsung has no trouble playing HD YouTube and variety of formats from USB disk.
More content should be available on Android TV, and it's more likely to be updated than your TVs. Also, there are a lot of people who don't have a Smart TV and who would prefer NOT using their TV's smart features (I despise mine, the interface is horrible, apps are abysmal; only reason I have it is because it came with the TV I wanted).
You did see the gaming benchmarks right? If that wasn't a major point for the user, not sure why you would pay for this here other than playing all kinds of formats from your USB drives (flash etc), across the network (smart tv's usually not good at that either). Not to mention Grid gaming, which eliminates much of the need for a high end PC and constantly buying $60 games (be it console or PC).
You have to be looking at this for more than just vids I think. IE you can do anything android devices can do. Meaning play their games, browse the web etc. I can sit on the couch and browse with a keyboard and mouse with this and a big screen (saving me a fat foot after 8hrs at work and some home time also on top). Too bad anandtech didn't bother to use it like this and comment.
I think SMART tv's are actually pretty stupid. They basically can stream some crap from netflix, youtube, amazon etc and not much more. Now if your tv has roku built-in or something, ok maybe sort of smarter but even that lacks major formats (really just has far more channels than smart tv's). My roku 2/3's are useless for USB sticks on about 80% of my content. I end up sticking it in the bluray player instead as most of the time it either can't play the audio or can't play the video.
If all you're after is movies and some streaming, I'd probably rather have a bluray player for $79-$99 that plays almost all formats from USB and streams fine, not to mention playing all disc formats (LG, BP350 $79 or something). Or even just a roku2 (new model with faster chip or roku 3 if using headphones in remote is needed) if just after streaming stuff but again, from usb sucks here, so I'm just talking web streaming vids.
What is interesting is comparing to the Intel NUCs for a media center hub (or HP Stream Mini) with Windows 10. The CPU power is close to the Intel Celeron 2957U, where a i5-5250U (NUC5i5YH/R) is 50% faster, but the Intel HD graphics is probably 20% slower. Both are fighting for the 4K home theater crowd, but Shield TV is cheaper (barebone NUC is 399 extra SDRAM & mSATA & remote/controller) and baked in 10' UI/UX and easier to maintain for the average user with support for DVR in the future and GRID gaming. Sure Win 10 will have a 10' UI and you can install whatever you want on it to customize to your own content, but higher price to entry and more time needed to tweak. The Intel Stick is cute at $150, but falls short in competition for the checklist of features. If sideloading is easy on the Shield TV, tweakers can rejoice and hope apps will scale properly. If people have an XB1 and enjoy the media apps / services and voice activation, then it's a hard sell. Gamestream is just icing, helping the portability of the Shield TV in a remote location (at home most games would have a big enough screen connected and avoid input lag). It's not a Roku or a Chromecast, so to get customers to make a premium purchase like this, targeting 4K video is the bait.
``Consumers need to get their expectations right - the SHIELD Android TV needs consideration only if OTT streaming (4K Netflix, in particular) and gaming credentials are important.''
The key feature I need is HEVC compatibility. I have many Blu-rays that I encode with FLAC audio, but with my FireTV, I am unable to use HEVC.
Are you saying that the Shield Android-TV is a poor choice for my requirements?
If you are savvy enough to encode your Blu-rays with HEVC, then I am sure you understand what I am trying to convey..
The typical media library also includes TV programs that are interlaced MPEG-2 (for example). The SHIELD is currently not a good solution for such a case.
I have outlined clearly what works and what doesn't. In your case, I would still suggest waiting for a proper HTPC with HDMI 2.0 / HEVC support unless HEVC-encoded Blu-ray rips are the only media files you plan to play in your setup.
Being savvy enough to check a few boxes doesn't mean you know everything about formats. You can muddle through handbrake without doing much more than selecting a profile for your device. The person states they are wanting FLAC+HEVC yet you tell him wait for HTPC. HE was clear in what he needed, so you should just say yes it plays what you need, or no it doesn't instead of a flippant response :( He likely has other players for other formats already hence his main feature desired is what he inquired about.
But still you're acting as if mpeg2 interlaced is all anyone wants and a reason to NOT buy it, when I'd suggest it's not many people (that can’t get that some other way until this unit CAN do it, like a dvd player or bluray player in your rack already) and most would want all the other stuff this thing can play NOT just bluray HEVC encoded stuff. IE, anything in mkv/mp4 with dolby etc in h264/x264 (which is most libraries of current content and mostly what people rip bluray to also as you even note in the review). This thing plays a LOT more than hevc. IF you're only going to use the NATIVE Android Tv player then it's somewhat limited, but you're not stuck with that and can choose a dozen or more others (paid or free). 3rd party stuff can easily be had to get around it all if not now then at some point most likely. IE you mention kodi can play mpeg2 without license in software. You also mention Deinterlacing might be added soon to Kodi. So your problem with the device here just a software fix away anyway (and only the interlaced part is a problem correct?)? There are many free apps that can deinterlace already on PC for conversion even if players that do it on android don’t exist…but wait for it…
Just check googleplay store: BSplayer, MX player Pro, KMplayer, vlc, etc (not saying which does the job just noting a bunch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSBG13gknoA 1080i mpeg 2 on mxplayer without transcoding. Appears this would solve your combo problem, and this is really old version of the software from 2013 post running on nexus 2013. I’m thinking your excuse for not buying is dead already. You can use de-interlacing option in MX player > settings > decoder. Considering you MENTIONED MX Player in your review, you can’t be this ignorant right or am I missing something? Unlike the OP who may NOT know about all this stuff, you definitely DO know about MX player yet seem to be unable to pass the chance to find some reason to KNOCK an nvidia product even when you know what I just showed fixes it. Typical Anandtech BIAS against Nvidia stuff (**cough AMD portal cough**) here or what?
From your last sentence it almost seems as you're acting like HEVC encoded blurays is all it does, which is categorically false (even though that is what the guy said he wanted to play as a main feature).
Worse you even state most people do the following (which it plays fine): "The SHIELD Android TV / Kodi combination has absolutely no trouble with the vanilla H.264 files that people usually rip their Blu-rays to."
But no ignore that, it doesn't play mpeg2 interlaced stuff (yet, at least out of the box, but seems to with at least mxplayer as shown which you know about) so it sucks...LOL. OK...Whatever. With 100million-500million installs I think most know about this app (free with ads, $6 without) yet you avoid using it for testing. 2.8million reviews too...LOL. That has to be one of the MOST KNOWN apps on android as most use videos on mobile. How well it works on a TV who knows (10 foot interface? Not sure) but that isn't the point. Worst case you just use it for specific vids with issues. .ts files play fine on mx player also. It seems to have many multiples of the installs of kodi (or xbmc if you like). Kodi on the other hand is only available to the handful of people that can find it (not directly on googleplay so to speak). http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/04/03/kodi-forme... You can follow how to get to it above I guess if desired (from googleplay & not sideloaded). Maybe this will help it gain popularity ;)
MX Player features (among other stuff): "Plays almost every movie files including .3gp .avi .divx .f4v .flv .mkv .mp4 .mpeg .mov .vob .wmv .webm .xvid and many more."
Either I'm missing something here, or don't really get the complaints you're making nor your flippant response to the OP. Are you saying MX Player with deinterlacing checked won't work for mpeg2 as shown in the supplied youtube video? That guy is testing 1080i mpeg2 on it. I'm confused.
My ibothsion is that it will play hevc/h.265 content with hardware acceleration and flac should have no licensing issues and doesn't need hardware acceleration, software acceleration should very well be possible on such a beefy SOC. I don't know if there's yet a software avaible that combines both though.
Perhaps I missed it, but to me the killer feature is streaming my steam library to my TV from my GTX 680 desktop. Why didn't you cover that? I couldn't care less about the android games. Being able to plop down on my couch and stream Witcher 3 from my PC is worth the price of admission, as it nullifies any desire for a steambox, if it works well.
Sadly that price doesn't include the Steam controller, which is likely to be at least $50. I'm also in need of a streaming device for the television, so while yes, a steam link + controller + chromecast would be ~$135, I think the extra capabilities of this device for $200 is a fair price. Plus it's 4K ready for once I get a 4K TV, and all on one HDMI input that I don't have to switch between. And plays more than just what I have in Steam, though unconfirmed whether Steam link will play non-steam titles or not.
I like the Steam link, especially for the price, but for me I think the Shield console is a better fit.
It's a matter of time in covering everything, along with the fact that GameStream is not a new technology in the ecosystem. Once the commercial GRID service launches, we'll be taking a more focused look at gaming on the SHIELD.
Hello. Dolphin emulator developer here. I've had an Nvidia SHIELD Android TV in my hands for a while now. I'd like to clarify in my comment the CPU and GPU speeds on this device The Cortex-A57s max clock speed is 2.01Ghz, and the Maxwell GPU's max clock speed is 998Mhz. I haven't checked the Cortex-A53's max clock speeds because being a Dolphin developer I effectively don't care about them.
It runs the new AArch64(ARMv8) JIT recompiler for the CPU core, which lets it run a few games full speed. This new core will take a long while to become fully optimized, but I'm taking steps to make it easier to profile the code's performance from Android which will help in the future. This new CPU core is going to be more maintainable than the old 32bit ARMv7 CPU core.
It's about on par, slightly better in some cases. Due to the Denver's quirky architecture the A57s will be quicker than the Denver in code that only executes a few times. This is due to the Denver only recompiling code to native VLIW if it has been called a certain number of times(This number is undisclosed).
For code that executes over and over the two CPUs are about on par with each ones winning depending on the situation.
The big question is, can it do HDMI 2.0 with HDCP 2.2 at 4:4:4 all at the same time? Last I heard, no HDCP decoding chip currently in existence does this.
They all downgrade to 4:2:0 when playing protected content and can only do 4:4:4 when playing unprotected content, which is about nothing other than gaming.
Shouldn't be in the case of dozens of currently existing devices, but in every case so far of any publicly available hardware I've seen, all encrypted content comes out 4:2:0 at 4k, so it would be nice for a vendor to acknowledge if it plays 4k hdcp 2.2 at 4:4:4 or just plays unencrypted stuff (like games, menus, ads, etc.) at 4:4:4 at 4k. Until a vendor specifically states it, I have my doubts. Sure all the features are listed to make it sound good to people who don't look too deeply into it, but they don't state when the features are interoperable.
It's like a person listing for a spec sheet about themselves: 1. I can run 17 miles per hour 2. I can run 25 miles
This does not mean that this person can run 25 miles at 17 miles per hour. They are just 2 separately listed specs. Chances are they only maintain that speed for a few seconds.
In this case what is most likely: 1. I can play without color compression (4:4:4) 2. I can play protected content at 4k (hdcp 2.2), but I won't tell you if that is compressed or not.
That is definitely an interesting question, but it is somewhat moot.. let me explain:
Getting specs out of the way, the SHIELD does support RGB 4:4:4 at 4Kp60 on the HDMI port.
Now, all video content that consumers play back - Netflix or Blu-rays and the like - they are all encoded in 4:2:0 - In this case, the consumer has nothing to gain or lose whether the conversion to 4:4:4 is done on the source side or the sink side. So, HDCP 2.2 with just 4:2:0 support is fine.
On the other hand, for professional applications, where content is processed in 4:2:2 or even 4:4:4 format, it will be a problem - but, it is likely that the workflow process in that case doesn't involve protected content - the protection is applied / needed only on the consumer delivery side.
Again, this is an interesting aspect, and one that I will definitely be questioning HDMI source / sink vendors on. It is just that it doesn't matter for consumer applications.
"The typical media library also includes TV programs that are interlaced MPEG-2 (for example). The SHIELD is currently not a good solution for such a case." Thanks, not for me then
The Live Channels app supports hardware MPEG-2 decoding, including deinterlacing. That functionality just isn't available to other media playback applications, since it was licensed for just the Live Channels app.
The recommendation row can be turned off partially or fully in settings -> System Preferences (3rd row) -> home screen You can select which sources to enable and disable.
Somehow, I am not able to follow the path you are referring to..
Under settings, I have Device > System, and under that nothing about Home Screen.. Do you have a video or set of screenshots showing the path?
I know that it is possible to go into the settings of a particular app and turn off the Notifications for that app - on Android TV, that turns off the 'Recommendations' - this is what I had done for the YouTube video showing the Android TV UI. The Recommendations row doesn't seem to have an option to turn it off completely..
I was hoping they spent the money and licensed the codecs but no HD Audio or DTS (or MPEG2 or VC1) is a bummer. At least in the case of the video codecs the CPU is fast enough to decode in software. Will not replace my HTPC. Its funny they license them for their videocards, including their cheapest passive ones but not their premium set-top box. And the box doesn't even have to decode it, just pass it through to a receive, that shouldn't require a license at all.
One thing that was unclear in your review though, if I use HDHomerun/Live TV app will it decode and deinterlace MPEG2 via hardware since the app is licensed? If so is this supported on Shield like it is on Nexus Player?
At least they shipped with working Netflix, unlike Razor.
Why is a license needed if its just bit-streaming? If i connect it to my amp and my amp separates the hdmi video from the audio signals, why would the licensing matter on this box?
It plays perfectly! As in, the audio seems to start a bit before the video starts, but when the pianist and the accompanying people start to speak, the audio and video are in sync.
Just wanted to complement you on the review. Somehow this site almost always manages to answer all the questions I have about a product I'm interested in. For me the current lack of refresh rate switching and bitstreaming of HD audio means that I'll pass for now, but I will follow the developments. I'm a little pessimistic, because the focus here is on streaming video and not HTPC use and there the lack of these features is less of a deal breaker.
Is there really that much of a market for non-mobile devices like this? I admit I don't know much about Android TV, but I guess if it supports a wireless keyboard and touchpad as well as letting you download an office suite it'd be somewhat flexible, but you still can't easily pick it up and take it with you to your couch or go to a coffee shop and use it to write while you're getting away from your apartment so it strikes me as extremely redundant with a tablet and even less useful in light of the fact that x86 Windows operating systems are now available on a tablet for lower cost than this screenless and batteryless device. Sure it's faster, but most of that performance is invested in graphical capabilities that aren't very important when you're playing a quick YouTube video, sending an e-mail, or writing something in a word processor. Plus, you have to also buy a screen for it which drives up the purchase price significantly since even a 15 inch screen would add another $100 or more.
Tablets with Windows 8.1 are very nice, inexpensive devices that can play videos and do a lot of other useful things, including running the usual library of x86 Windows software. While I think it's nice that nv is working on stuff like this, it just doesn't compete at all in flexibility with even something like a HP Stream desktop (the cute little blue tupperware-looking PC they sell for about the same price as this thing). Okay, okay, so you can display stuff on a 4k screen, but those aren't common and a lot of people, myself included, don't even own an external screen and would never consider buying one because they don't want to be stuck in one place passively consuming pre-recorded media. That seems like such an obsolete concept.
You either have a lot of extra money or live alone. What happens to the TV when you take the tablet away? Why pay for a screen, camera, battery, and shock resistance, etc., or deal with power throttling when you don't have to? Any tablet that can do what the Shield TV can do is going to cost a lot more than the Shield TV. Plus the Shield TV doesn't look like someone left a tablet lying around. This is selling for $200 with a controller. The Shield Tablet cost $300 without a controller and with less I/O connectivity.
Not sure why this can't replace your HTPC when you can load OTHER players that can do the things you call shortcomings of the built-in player (like kodi, VLC, Powerdvd's android app). It seems to me you should be able to get around any shortcomings with other apps.
I see you said VLC doesn't work that well on shield right now (what do you mean by this comment ?), but what about running something like powerdvd from the PC as noted to get around issues? The android app will accept streaming from local PC's running PowerDVD which plays everything this won't I think. Most people even pondering an HTPC already have a full PC in another room on the network so any shortcomings here should be covered by that I'd guess (including playing blurays etc).
Why wasn't the Intel device shown in more stuff? IE, gfxbench, pcmark, Basemark 2? IE why not thrown in the surface 3 for these which you already have the scores for? http://www.anandtech.com/show/9219/the-surface-3-r... Saves me from bouncing back and forth to see how badly Intel got killed ;) You had surface 3 pro scores too as shown, why leave them out? Manhattan offscreen 1080p shows Surface 3 pro at 29fps, why not include it when you already have those scores? You had PCmark scores for Surface3 pro also shown above. Are the work portions completely different? Are the other pcmark tests not able to run on surface 3 pro? Photo editing/video playback etc PCMark benchmarks don't work on them? You had all the gfxbench scores for both surface3 pro and regular also. I don't get why you put them in for some stuff, but exclude listing those in other tests when you had the data.
1. It's too expensive. It needs to be $99 like the Apple TV was before they dropped the price to $69. I know that's a huge drop and it may not be possible with the current specs (yet) but it won't ever be successful if it's more than $100. 2. It needs to play all Android games, and then play Android TV games really really well. It may already do this but it wasn't clear from the article. Any games nVidia makes should be for Android TV in general (i.e. "Controllers instead of touch") but should really shine on Shield. If anyone plays a game on a different Android TV they should say to themselves "I wish I had bought a Shield" so then those games become both guides to other developers of what their Android TV games should be like, but also become advertisements to gamers on any Android device that the game they are playing on their phone/tablet/other Android TV hardware would be a better experience on the Shield.
In the end, if they don't have really good 3rd party support this will fail. Only Apple is capable of pulling a success out of the air (Apple TV) without 3rd party offerings, and even they had to open up to Netflix, Hulu, HBO and the sports channels.
The Matricom MX2 Midnight is about 79.00 You can get a fly mote (like a Wii remote) it has two partitions one side for internet and gaming and the other side for KODI They have a newer versioin out but I like my model which is a little cheaper. The xbmx which is now KODI is the streaming side. I love this box. You can find it on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_7_14?url=s...
Seems a bit like a missed opportunity... - no HD bitstreaming, no legacy hardware decoding... - pairing a GTX960 class GPU (8 SMM instead of two) with an octo-core A57 might feasible for a $300-350 price point. Especially if it could dualboot steam os...
It is being said that Nvidia is considering a Codec pack to add HD audio passthrough, VC-1, Mpeg2, etc in hardware.
It was also said that Mpeg2 hardware is already on the device, but currently only activated when installing a program like the forthcoming Silicondust HDHomerun DVR program that just had a Kickstarter and will come out in a few months (alpha testing to start in June for the Kickstarter backers).
Go the the Nvidia forums and voice your opinion for the Codec to be released!!!
GGames - You say this has 10-bit color output and HDR capability. Do any consumer grade dGPUs have that (along with the HDMI 2.0a and HDCP needs). I'm really concerned about this for my next PC build. Any thought on how to build a UHD Blueray capable 4k HTPC?
I ordered one. This thing is gonna be great for replacing all the tiny crap I had to keep my PC turned on for. Can install a ftp and media server app, and use a usb 3.0 hub to attach a bunch of HDDs to it. Can stream my media library and maybe even use it for home security surveillance.
It seems like a great embedded device for doing a lot of fun things. Hopefully it ain't hard to root and there's a ROM modding community on cyanogen/xda for it soon.
Yeah. Thats the spirit. I am thinking exactly the same thing!. Probably millions of others as well. If a version of Ubuntu gets into this, it is total replacement for Windows in the household!.
You did not compare the mx2 midnight by matricom and the KODI program for streaming. It has two partitions. One side for the internet and one side for streaming. It is so much better than ROKU.
Doh...I just bought this and it is currently being shipped to me via Amazon US to Canada. I wanted a more well rounded video system that was fast, supported voice etc and could play some games when needed. So is my WDTV Live still a better player overall with
How could that be a mistake ?. Us prices are as such. It will blow away your WD Live and relegate it to be a USB disk which is not bad really. Think about it, Maxwell based X1 is just amazing.
Not really, I've recently did the same convertion and has been awesome, of course, I did it recently and you did a year ago.
Actually, I'm guessing you had plenty of fun with every new update with the Shield.
Just grabbed the Shield and an Extra Controller on Amazon Prime Day for 199, Even sold the controller to a friend who has a Shield Tablet for US50, so my final price would be 100.
I am lost! (No, not geographically). I have a 4k and make constant use of Netflix in particular but with probably 25 other video and music apps. Now I need to work towards cancelling my $200/mo. Directv bill. My Smart TV with my Harmony remote provides me with menuing. What would the Nvidia Shield Android TV add to my life?
4K, 4K, I keep hearing all this NONSENSE about 4K and it IS all NONSENSE! Unless you have a SIX FOOT or wider screen YOU CANNOT tell the difference between 4K and normal HD Are you morons listening?
Hey Ganesh...any chance of a follow-up analysis accounting for major updates since this article was written? Looks like local media playback got some big boosts, among other things? Sadly, the SHIELD TV is still on top of the media player spectrum even 1.5 years later, making updated reports even more important on this "old" hardware.
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tipoo - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Certainly seems performant enough, but will it get any exclusives. Even to the entire shield platform at least. Android games are....Ok, but hardly take advantage of the latest and greatest chips, most run fine even on my Moto G. Streaming is also neat, but I'd really like to see some exclusives that really target these high end chips with controllers.ganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Yes, NVIDIA has indicated around 20 exclusive titles are coming to Tegra K1 and X1-based SHIELD devices.Jumangi - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
What titles. I hope no body thinks they will be even remotely close to AAA level experiences. No developer is going to risk that kind of money on this machine. They will be cheesed low end android crap.TheJian - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Not sure what you're talking about. With unreal 4 and unity 5 engine support on android now you'll start to see some REAL games and they already have real PC ports (serious sam 3, Trine2, Portal, halflife 2, KOTOR etc). You might say PC ports are old (but they are AAA games), but if you know the sales #'s of each of these you understand not more than ~10mil played any of these titles that NOW can easily be ported to Android for a FULL (albeit older) PC game experience. More of these will likely come first, but by this xmas or next we'll start to see what unity5 and unreal 4 can produce. We are already way past angry birds...LOL. Trine 2 isn't a great looking title? That's a 2011 PC game. What exactly do you want? Trine2 runs on K1, we're already at X1 and 14nm Samsung fabbed version is coming for xmas (likely with return of Denver cpu amped up and more polished). We are not even taxing X1 yet, and the xmas version at 14nm will eat it alive. You clearly don't browse android games much to see what is already ported or new out there.This console has more power than an xbox360 or ps3. Not sure why you'd think we're talking Minecraft here or something. If you called xbox360/ps3 AAA experiences what is the difference? You can call that barely beating last gen, but this is the new xbox360/ps3 experience for the poor (or alternative gaming for me that isn't PC etc) who can't afford xbox1/ps4 price tag nor the $60+ games prices that come with those.
On top of that, you don't need a $600-1000 PC to play at 1080p 60fps. For a monthly fee of even $15 (180/yr) you'd get FAR more than 3 console games at $60ea correct? Right now (free) you get 50 games that can stream like this and surely many more coming year after year. The sheer value of GRID gaming here is massive for a person who doesn't have $60 a month to keep their kid playing xbox1/ps4 games. I'm going to guess there will be a $10 fee for 720 and $15 for 1080p gaming but you can insert whatever numbers you want here, I'm just making the point about affordability for amount of fun you get. Mind you as graphics amp up, GRID keeps you from needing to upgrade. Nvidia can easily make sure you're always getting the fps that is being sold to you. They can keep dropping servers around also to keep latency in check.
To your dev point, incorrect. Worst case scenario they can make it exclusive for 6mo-1yr then if sales suck port to PC or allow regular android to use it. You are forgetting that 1yr from now ALL gpus (14nm by then everywhere) will have X1 levels of gpu and if that's not the case by then 10nm isn't far behind. Also if NV wins the suit, everyone will be paying for NV gpu IP (great for devs) at some point. IF you make an unreal4/unity5 game here, you can easily port the thing to PC probably in a few weeks tops and it is running the exact Nvidia hardware there for ~75% of the discrete market on PC's. You're mistakenly acting as if you make a TEGRAZONE based game (meaning special for NV tegra hardware effect), it can NEVER run anywhere else...LOL.
It took a few weeks to port most of these titles.
http://www.tegrazone.com/games/witcherba
Just an example of your crappy games.. Looks pretty fun to me.
http://www.tegrazone.com/games/oddworldsw
Listen to the dev. 1st time in 1080p on mobile etc. Can't beat the price of $6 either. Full 20+hrs just like all the other full games I mentioned that MOST of the world hasn't even played. We see some REALLY great PC games being made for $2-10mil, so I'm pretty sure a dev aiming at top tegra devices won't have a problem shifting titles elsewhere if needed 6 months-1yr later. They are coming with a shield update this xmas (or before) too, so at some point you're going to have millions on these anyway much like a console and that's not counting the fact that lawsuits may lead to all of mobile being NV/AMD at some point (on the gpu side, ARM whatever on the cpu side). I can see myself playing many games with key/mouse on BT when gamepads don't work right also (large rpg game like Baldurs Gate on TV for instance etc). Like I said, massive cheap ports first, then use the cash from those to fund BIG new IP. At worse making a potent game here, only means you'll wait for 2yrs for everyone to be able to play it as gpu power surpasses X1 for even the junker tablets/phones etc at 10nm. IF you don't like waiting that long port to PC etc. You seem to not understand 2Billion units are sold yearly from here on out, which means 2Billion can play any android AAA title very soon. Far faster than say, waiting for consoles to get even 50mil on either side of MSFT or Sony (what is that 5yrs from now?). I'll take the 2Billion side if I'm a dev as GDC 2014/2015 surveys both show they have.
NV can also pay $2-4mil x 25 games to get exclusives they perhaps OWN (say 20mil on 5 top exclusives yearly? Hopefully more?), and then do the same at a later date by porting to PC etc. It's not risky knowing they can port easily to the same gpu on PC. I really hope they start funding games in this range for AAA experiences aimed at X1+. At some point they'll tell us numbers sold on a unit (maybe xmas handheld or android tv here), but not likely until they have a million unit sales launch or something. Maybe they'll wait for an unreal 4 engine showcase game to give us that data. Imagine what 10nm HBM2 version of Tegra will bring to the table...ROFL. Hopefully something from AMD then too for this type of stuff.
http://www.tegrazone.com/news/tabletssurpass
EA, tablets will surpass consoles, and add more to the bottom line THAN consoles. Simple math. Starting 2017 consoles have a real problem if not before as better games launch. HBM2 with 10nm socs will make some waves in replacement devices for what we have today and many problems will be created even at 14nm shortly as everyone rolls that out probably a few devices using HBM1 too in this next gen of ARM devices etc. WiiU just hit 10mil devices sold, and they have some AAA experiences correct? ;) Vainglory from iOS just got ported to NV. Between apples next devices (A9), NV's current and their next model at xmas, qcom's next model (after 810), etc you will have a 100mil+ (likely far higher) that can do X1 gpu levels and likely with 128bit bus everywhere adding more fuel. I really don't get your point ;) Have you seen modern combat 5 blackout or asphalt 8, Order & chaos online, Dungeon Hunter 4 etc? Not angry birds and neither aimed at X1 levels. Haters gonna hate I guess...
darkich - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
I doubt he'll even read your comment but I can say, thank youJumangi - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
It has nothing to do with capabilities. Try and understanding what I was actually saying. No developer is going to invest the time and money needed to make high end games for this thing. The return on investment isn't even remotely there.Odey - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
I am really not sure what you are talking about. Border Lands, the new Metal Gear, Doom3, Half Life, Star Wars series, Portal, Shadow Run, and many more..and I am sure that they will get the newer games as well.heygeo - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I understand what your trying to say and also agree, its about having limited engineering resources and the IMMEDIATE return on having them churn out product that will have the best chance of selling the most... in other words when you look at who out there owns this thing (remember not talking about all Android users just the ones with the graphical horsepower) its minute vs say PCs and consoles... while gaming is a passion to us its a business to them and in a crowded gaming platform field this one doesn't have the user base or differentiation to stand out.farble1670 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Xbox / PS4 for the poor?if you look at the reasonable model, the one with the 500GB drive, it's only $50 less than the Xbox One and the PS4, which are orders of magnitude more powerful than the Shield. for only $40 more, wouldn't you want a top of the line next generation gaming console with hundreds of games and hundreds more committed?
if you're looking at the 16GB model (with 10GB of usable space), you won't be able to load more than a few high-end games. you can load them onto an SD card, but that's slower, and you *can't* store game data on the SD card, so if it's a game that downloads content, you're screwed.
i wanted to love the shield, but the price is silly. there's just no way they can compete with the subsidized prices of the Xbox One and PS4.
mkozakewich - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
"...orders of magnitude better..."I'm pretty sure they aren't. I'd be surprised if the consoles get more than 6x the performance.
(That would equate to something like a comparison between 10fps and 60fps for a given display size, so it's not like it means nothing, but that's not even ONE order of magnitude.)
ES_Revenge - Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - link
Perhaps not but Tegra X1 might be Maxwell but it's only 256:16:16 with 512 GFLOP SP performance. That in the realm of a GT 730...and the GDDR3 730 is faster than that, lol. In AMD-speak that's around equal to an R7 240.PS4 OTOH is a little below an R9 270 (around a GTX 660) and has over 1800 GFLOP SP performance. "On paper" it's already about 4x faster computationally, and it has about 7x the VRAM bandwidth.
Trying to compare a 7850/R9 270/GTX 660 to an R7 240/GT 730 is lulz though and it's very hard to find any kind of direct comparison between the two because they're never tested together and low end cards are typically tested at lower res and settings than higher end ones. It may not be actually an order of magnitude difference quantitatively but that's not really here nor there in the real world. In 1080p, we're talking about the difference between 10-15 FPS (i.e. totally unplayable) to 30-50 FPS (not spectacular but still very playable), between the two. The qualitative difference between 10FPS and 30FPS is HUGE so it seems like "an order of magnitude" in realith.
Nevermind the CPU side is well behind the 4M/8T Jaguar x86 CPU in the PS4.
MJJackson - Saturday, June 29, 2019 - link
Isso que eu chamo de bíblia hein. Como você teve disposição para escrever tudo isso? E como este site suporta tantos caracteres em um comentário?MJJackson - Saturday, June 29, 2019 - link
Isso que eu chamo de bíblia hein. Como você teve disposição para escrever tudo isso? E como este site suporta tantos caracteres em um comentário?Samus - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
So this is a $200-$300 Roku on steroids?Udo - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
No, on gamma radiation.ToTTenTranz - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
And it'll do jack for selling Tegra devices because:1 - Such games have been in the PC for years or even a decade. Whoever wants to play them, can do it on a PC.
2 - Being greedy and making these games exclusive to Tegra devices/consoles means they won't ever enlarge the market for higher-end games on Android, which in turn won't ever raise the demand for higher-performing Android devices (like Tegra X1).
mkozakewich - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
People are replacing their computers with tablets and things, so I could imagine someone junking their six-year-old computer and getting this, and just getting a large phone for any mobility needs.I personally don't have any of the latest consoles or a new TV; so if I was going to get one right now, I'd try to get a 4K TV and this console would be really tempting.
smorebuds - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Nintendo should come out with an Android-based console. And start making mobile games that can scale up to tv size. And let us play touch optimized pokemon on our phones dammit.testbug00 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Why android? They have ARM consoles, they know to do touch. Going android just makes it easier for other android users to get Nintendo games pirated...tipoo - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Their own operating systems all being slow as molasses could be a reason, though that could also be down to the hardware.testbug00 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Nintendo can design a competent OS. The fact their OS runs smoother than Android did for years on Hardware that Android would choke on isn't really a negative.I'm not joking either, the sad part. And, why would the hardware force them to? Why would they risk people being able to pirate all their games super easy?
tipoo - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
The 3DS, sure, modern android would choke on that hardware. But the design of getting around is still pretty byzantine. Anywho. The Wii U though? With 2GB RAM, half reserved for the OS, and three PowerPC750 based processor cores at 1.2GHz, the thing is still terribly slow for something released so recently. Meanwhile Android is butter with four low power Cortex A7 cores and does ok on 1GB RAM total.Not saying they should or shouldn't. And I'm not sure it would make piracy easier - even going with Android, being open source they can add their old security. Not that the Wii or DS were very secure from piracy either.
tipoo - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
And what I mean by the 3DS bit...I picked up a 2DS from Target Canada while they were liquidating, half off so I thought what the hell. Didn't have much chance to use it until now.Went into street pass, there was an update available. Ok, go for it. Hit ok, confirm ok, yes it's ok it will take a while. Loads for a minute, then tells me I need to do a system update first. Figure out how to do that, easy enough. Start system update, confirm system update, yes it's fucking ok it will take a while. System update done.
Go back to streetpass plaza, start update. Hit ok, confirm ok, yes it's ok it will take a while. Connecting to online account. Cool. Takes a minute. Then tells me I don't have enough SD storage space. You couldn't check that first?! There's a message that tells me where to go to free storage. So, why can't there just be a button within the message that takes me there?
It could be because every time you close software, there's a button to really close it, and then a confirmation dialogue. Ach, getting real tired of your shit, Nintendo. A few more seconds of wait after you hit the *real* close button, too, because...I dunno. Nintendo.
Delete some crap. Go back to install the thing. Hit ok, confirm ok, yes it's ok it will take a while. Works this time. Go through the new Plaza to see what's new. Go through a bunch of dialogue with a talking rabbit just to see screenshots of each game. You can hold R, but it's still pretty slow.
Did I mention slow? The byzantine software layout may not even bug me as much if the thing was fast, but this is *really* slow. It's old hardware, I get that, plus it was low end hardware even at launch, but that doesn't stop it from being aggravating. The eShop being the worst of it. Going back and forth through pages is painstaking.
Some people have and probably will try to remind me that Nintendo is focused a lot on children. I honestly don't think even kids need all this padding though - this is the iPad generation, they'll get the hang of things in a jiffy, and don't need three confirmations from a talking dildo or whatever weird crap Nintendo wants to do every time they open or close software or after they've already said yes to a download.
Even with more attractive games on it than smartphones have, I find myself almost reluctant to use it every time for the slowness and very pre-iPhone software.
eanazag - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Nintendo just needs to give up on the hardware aspect and just distribute software. I would even pay for oldies like Excite Bike on iOS/MS Store/Google Play. I think they can still do regular consoles, but I have been disappointed with them. Good peripherals is still a market they could sell for.If anything, just sell the old stuff on those other services a make a dollar.
mkozakewich - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
If I were them, I'd work with a vendor to design a Nintendo Phone. Like, imagine an LG phone with Nintendo branding, a thumbstick, and four buttons? Maybe shoulder buttons, too. Whatever they could fit. (They might be able to get away with shoving all the usual 3DS buttons on.)smorebuds - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
This is more what I was referring too. If Nintendo focused on releasing software (to the Android/iOS market where they'd make the biggest splash) then wouldn't a Nintendo set top box like this Shield make sense too? It would just be the Nintendo-branded and skinned Android box, maybe with some extra Nintendo-specific features thrown in.FMinus - Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - link
Why would they do that, I'm still pretty happy with my WiiU and their hardware offers something that noone else does, or usually copies it in one way or another. Besides Nintendo is sitting on a lot of cash, possibly more as Microsoft and Sony game divisions together anyway, so there's no fear of them going away anytime soon.Aside of that, they are the only company making consoles relatively affordable and kid friendly. Just as an example The Xbox/Playstation UI are an abomination to navigate for a 6 to 10 year old. And most importantly, Nintendo is focusing on games, not being the center of your living room, I'd gladly strip both the Xbox One and Playstation 4 of all the useless features (to me) if they offered them for $250.
stoicromance - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
So am I to understand that you can load pretty much any Google Play app onto this? Can I just throw VLC and Plex onto the Shield?Ryan Smith - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Through the Play Store, an app needs to be flagged as supporting the 10ft Android TV UI in order to show up. Though you can sideload practically anything.ganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Plex already comes pre-bundledVLC doesn't work that well right now on the SHIELD
wicche - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
But does the 16gb version have a empty 2.5" internal drive bay?ganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
No empty internal bayganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I meant to convey that the kit is not meant to be opened up by end-users. I will get more concrete info on the availability of a bay shortlytcb4 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
There is an open bay, but they don't include a sata connector on the 16gb version.ZOONAMI - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Do you mean sata cable or sata connector? Could we just drop a short cord in there and connect?Morawka - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
just use a external drive, plenty of usb ports.ZOONAMI - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
That completely ruins the sleek form factorMorawka - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Use a 128gb thumb drive then lol.....kyuu - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Get a nice looking enclosure then? I mean seriously...UltraWide - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
That 24p support is crucial as a media player. Hopefully Kodi developers can get Android TV working with 24p.nandnandnand - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
What is 24p? 24-bit audio?piroroadkill - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I'm pretty sure he's referring to native 24 Hz output, or more than likely, 23.976, as most content (such as the video on Blu-ray discs) is encoded at 23.976.hifiaudio2 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Really too bad about no lossless audio codec support. Maybe a codec licensing pack add on for $20 or something?SleepModezZ - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
They say it supports FLAC. It is lossless and should support different sampling rates and bit rates. It is free. Maybe Ganesh refers to some other proprietary format that SHIELD TV is lacking?ganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I was referring to lossless HD audio - like the type of tracks in BD-Audio discs or even certain Blu-ray soundtracks. - DTS-HD MA and TrueHD - [ http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=91776 ]SleepModezZ - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Thank you. Are those codecs widely used outside of Blu-ray discs? As the SHIELD is not a Blu-ray player, those codecs are only important if they are used in streaming services. Unfortunately I don't know what Netflix or other services uses.ganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I believe using the SHIELD as a player for the Blu-ray rips on a NAS will be a common use-case.SleepModezZ - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Ok. Then the question is, is it possible to transcode DTS-HD soundtracks to multichannel FLAC streams while ripping the Blu-ray disc, and if, what do you lose in the conversion? FLAC (and HDMI) can handle up till 8 channels high res audio. Is there some problem with the AV receiver understanding such streams? If not, it would be recommended to rip Blu-ray discs into a format that SHIELD TV can play back. Re-encoding old rips should not be too difficult - just takes some time and electricity.ganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
AFAIK, there is no open source DTS-HD MA decoder.In any case, the easiest ripping scheme is to extract tracks without any transcoding. If the end-player can't support the resulting rip, then it is not something ideal - After all, there are probably other players which do support it.
In the case of the SHIELD, the only thing unique about it from a video playback perspective is support for 4Kp60 HEVC decode and HDMI 2.0 / HDCP 2.2 for 4K Netflix. If either of those are important to you right away, then you will be very happy with the SHIELD Android TV. If they are not urgent requirements - the only aspect preventing me from whole-heartedly recommending the SHIELD Android TV is that it is a closed embedded platform unlike a PC. We need something open and extensible like a HTPC that will also have full HEVC decode and HDMI 2.0 / HDCP 2.2
SleepModezZ - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Thank you for your patience. It seems you are right - there is only commercial software for decoding dts-hd, so a free program like Handbrake can only pass-through the soundtrack, and then SHIELD can't play it.maxpower47 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
There is now: https://github.com/foo86/dcadecZeDestructor - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
@maxpower47: ah yea, I saw that a few weeks ago. afaik they' re waiting on it to get merged into libav so eac3to can toy with it with minimal changes.ganeshts - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
Thanks! That looks interesting.. Looking forward to it getting integrated with Kodi and LAV Filters..ZeDestructor - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
DTS-HD MA is getting there. The mad boffins behind libav got Dolby TrueHD done sometime in the last 2 years, and now DTS-HD MA is left. Of course, this still requires you to decrypt the BR, but that's another story entirely.slashclee - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
What I really want to know that the review doesn't cover: will Plex on the SHIELD Android TV decode HEVC video or will it still end up streaming a transcoded copy from the Plex server? If it decodes it using the SHIELD hardware, I'm buying one. If not... I might still buy one, eventually, I guess.SleepModezZ - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Should not that be up to the Plex app? On an Android tablet Plex does often unnecessarily re-encode video. The reason is probably that the included video player is limited in its playback capabilities. It is possible to use some other more advanced video player (like MXPlayer or VLC) so that Plex only hands the video stream to the player and skips the unnecessary re-rencoding.Ask the Plex developers how their app behaves on Android TV.
jeffkibuule - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Plex has to build a profile that specifies what a device is capable of. Seeing as how they probably didn't have a unit in for testing, it probably won't be enabled just yet.savagemike - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
I would guess they might have a unit for testing. Nvidia gave the Kodi devs a unit or two for testing apparently.jjj - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
The gaming onscreen tests are at 1080p i assume, wish you would have done them at 4k too, seems odd not to.On the power consumption side, data on some more devices would have helped. Maybe you can add some power data and 4k benches, would be helpful.
The price is gonna limit this one, they'll sell 10s of thousands of units per quarter by pricing it at 2x the 99$ max price allowed instead of going 99$ and competing with Chromecast and Apple TV. Hope GRID is just not ready for that kind of scale and that's why they price it not to sell.
Since the storage is extremely limited, especially given the PC ports they advertised at launch, some data on SD card/external storage perf might be useful.
savagemike - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
I think the pricing is kind of reasonable at the moment. You can't buy anything with a processor this capable for $99.Will be interesting to see what Apple does with a next gen Apple TV device though.
hero4hire - Monday, June 1, 2015 - link
The question is not a matter of capablability but of utility. A $20-$30 chromecast does most of the functions. A smart TV by itself can do some. The Shield is a luxury device. Using nothing or a Roku on bottom to a ps4 or a htpc on top. Fitting in the middle and attacking a niche is this product.What does the more capable processor provide I've alternatives and am I willing to pay a little more for significantly more capability? That's the value question.
Yojimbo - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
"Though it’s a bit of circular logic to say that NVIDIA is intending to exploit these same advantage in the SoC space as they have the desktop space – after all, Maxwell was designed for SoCs first – Maxwell’s capabilities are clearly established at this point."There's a difference between circular logic and redundancy (much like there is a difference between circular logic and a tautology). To say that NVIDIA is intending to exploit the power-efficiency in the SOC space is simply redundant after you already said that NVIDIA designed the architecture that way in the first place. The citing of power efficiency in desktop products is simply giving evidence of power-efficiency. There's no implication of EXTRA power efficiency more than what was originally designed in the architecture by moving from desktop GPUs to the SOC GPUs. How can circular logic appear when no implication is being made?
testbug00 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
"Ultimately it’s clear that the SHIELD Android TV is heavily overspeced compared to other Android TV devices – no one else is pursuing this premium market..."Perhaps because the market isn't large enough to justify a product aimed solely at it? Nvidia can leverage their streaming GPU stuff and a bunch of other stuff no other players really have.
Even with that, I don't think the market is large enough to support one player.
UltraWide - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
If I use a receiver and send the audio via bitstream to the receiver, will it play or not? I don't see why bitstreaming of audio requires a license? I thought the license is only required to actually decode the audio on the device and play some downmixed version of it.ganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Try convincing Dolby, DTS and NVIDIA together :) I am with you on this one, but NVIDIA says licensing is the issue.cfenton - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
How does it handle external storage of apps? Android has typically been OK about reading media from an SD card, but it's recently been more and more restrictive about how apps can interact with external storage. Does Android TV (or some Nvidia custom magic) solve that problem? With only 16GB internal (and surely less user accessible) it will quickly run out of room if you want to install games. Recent experience with an Xperia Z3 and Nvidia Shield Tablet have not been promising on this front, at least without root access. The Xperia will copy some data to the external storage device, but still leave some on the internal, and the Shield Tablet is really picky about what games it will transfer to external storage. I'd want to just plug a 2TB portable drive into this thing, have it install everything there, and never think about it again, but based on past experience I'm worried that won't work.I know they want people to use GRID, but until data caps go away that won't be practical in many places.
Ryan Smith - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
The SATV can handle apps on SD cards. In fact it has a feature to automatically move newly downloaded apps to the SD card in order to better utilize the space it provides.docbones - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Application support is going to be the biggest item. Will it be updated to run current Amazon Prime, Max Go, HBO Go, CW streaming, etc.Currently none of the Android TV type devices have parity to the number of streaming video apps that my phone does.
chizow - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I didn't have much interest in this product or any of the previous Shield products, but with Windows Media Center's impending doom with Win10 and the prospect of Silicon Dust's HD HomeRun DVR as a viable replacement, I may have to look into getting one.It certainly seems to pack a lot of value and possibilities into a very small price tag of $200. I'm just not sure on the naming/branding, but I guess they think the Android TV aspect may have a higher demand than some of the gaming initiatives they are slowly building upon.
testbug00 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
they really should make a $150 version that is just the console. Probably would increase sales quite a bit... Although, the controller and stuff is probably well under $50 to make however.jeffkibuule - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Yeah, especially when you have controllers like the PS4 or Xbox One which do a far superior job in ergonomics, any other company that attempts to make a controller falls pretty flat on their face.Brianbeastsu - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
Have you used the shield controller yet? I personally had my doubts when I bought the tablet but its now my fav controller with the volume and mouse features I wish every controller had.....really awesome and could actually make the ps4 less of a nightmare if you ever wanted to think about using their browser.....ha......also the GRID streaming on the tablet is amazing so I will 100% be getting this....I didn't even know this existed until after I got the tablet and it blows anything else I've used out of the water....just my opiniontestbug00 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
19.2 watts of power? Cut off 2 A57 cores and one Maxwell SMM, I'm betting you would have one heck of a mobile chip for phablets and larger.jt122333221 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
NVidia has chosen to chop off their mobile division and have openly stated they are no longer pursuing mobile devices like phones. Why would they gimp the chip to have a mobile chip when they aren't interested in mobile anymore?testbug00 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Not designing for a space and not having a product that can fit it are two different things. Over the course of all the runs for the X1 Nvidia might get enough "bad" chips to do a series that could fit into a phablet.Of course, for Nvidia's sake, I hope their yields don't allow for that :)
jeffkibuule - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Nvidia long ago stopped pursing phones because phone OEMs basically wanted chips with integrated LTE modems and Qualcomm had the best. Why go with a Tegra when you can get a Snapdragon that already has everything you need?testbug00 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Tablet. End of story.ZeDestructor - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
LTE tablets sell for a much larger margin, and it costs a hefty amount of engineering time to design two different platforms for the same product, then certify it, so they stick to the usual Qcomm stuff by and large.ZOONAMI - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Can you please verify if the base 16gb model can be opened up so we can add our own SSD/HDD to it?jt122333221 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
We will know in time - I guarantee someone will check by the end of next week.ganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
From NV: "we do not have an empty HDD bay in the 16GB sku. Users will not be able to add their own HDD into the 16GB sku."ZOONAMI - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Wow thank you for prompt reply!Cami Hongell - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Tellybean is the first video call service on Android TV and the SHIELD is the first device that works with a regular Logitech camera. Try it out and please let us know what you think. http://eepurl.com/blSzU9vdek - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
How does the performance compare to the XB1 and PS4? Those would seem to be the two immediate competitors for this device. It seems like Anandtech has grown too focused on comparing everything to Tablets/phones...kron123456789 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
"How does the performance compare to the XB1 and PS4?" — It doesn't. This is just hardware:Sheild Android TV — 256 CUDA cores(at ~1GHz), 16ROPs, 16TMUs, 3GB of RAM with 25.6GB/sec bandwidth
Xbox One — 768 GCN cores(at 853MHz), 16ROPs, 48TMUs, 8GB of RAM with 68.2GB/sec bandwidth
PS4 — 1152 GCN cores(at 800MHz), 32ROPs, 72TMUs, 8GB of RAM with 176GB/sec bandwidth
ppi - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Given that basically all TVs now are "smart", what are real advantages of device such as this one over a Smart TV? I am talking video and content playback, of course.While I do not own 4K TV, my 1080p Samsung has no trouble playing HD YouTube and variety of formats from USB disk.
jt122333221 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
More content should be available on Android TV, and it's more likely to be updated than your TVs. Also, there are a lot of people who don't have a Smart TV and who would prefer NOT using their TV's smart features (I despise mine, the interface is horrible, apps are abysmal; only reason I have it is because it came with the TV I wanted).Yojimbo - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I have a Samsung smart tv and it's slow, slow, slow.jeffkibuule - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
When's the last time your TV got a meaningful software update?TheJian - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
You did see the gaming benchmarks right? If that wasn't a major point for the user, not sure why you would pay for this here other than playing all kinds of formats from your USB drives (flash etc), across the network (smart tv's usually not good at that either). Not to mention Grid gaming, which eliminates much of the need for a high end PC and constantly buying $60 games (be it console or PC).You have to be looking at this for more than just vids I think. IE you can do anything android devices can do. Meaning play their games, browse the web etc. I can sit on the couch and browse with a keyboard and mouse with this and a big screen (saving me a fat foot after 8hrs at work and some home time also on top). Too bad anandtech didn't bother to use it like this and comment.
I think SMART tv's are actually pretty stupid. They basically can stream some crap from netflix, youtube, amazon etc and not much more. Now if your tv has roku built-in or something, ok maybe sort of smarter but even that lacks major formats (really just has far more channels than smart tv's). My roku 2/3's are useless for USB sticks on about 80% of my content. I end up sticking it in the bluray player instead as most of the time it either can't play the audio or can't play the video.
If all you're after is movies and some streaming, I'd probably rather have a bluray player for $79-$99 that plays almost all formats from USB and streams fine, not to mention playing all disc formats (LG, BP350 $79 or something). Or even just a roku2 (new model with faster chip or roku 3 if using headphones in remote is needed) if just after streaming stuff but again, from usb sucks here, so I'm just talking web streaming vids.
spinportal - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
What is interesting is comparing to the Intel NUCs for a media center hub (or HP Stream Mini) with Windows 10. The CPU power is close to the Intel Celeron 2957U, where a i5-5250U (NUC5i5YH/R) is 50% faster, but the Intel HD graphics is probably 20% slower. Both are fighting for the 4K home theater crowd, but Shield TV is cheaper (barebone NUC is 399 extra SDRAM & mSATA & remote/controller) and baked in 10' UI/UX and easier to maintain for the average user with support for DVR in the future and GRID gaming. Sure Win 10 will have a 10' UI and you can install whatever you want on it to customize to your own content, but higher price to entry and more time needed to tweak. The Intel Stick is cute at $150, but falls short in competition for the checklist of features. If sideloading is easy on the Shield TV, tweakers can rejoice and hope apps will scale properly. If people have an XB1 and enjoy the media apps / services and voice activation, then it's a hard sell. Gamestream is just icing, helping the portability of the Shield TV in a remote location (at home most games would have a big enough screen connected and avoid input lag). It's not a Roku or a Chromecast, so to get customers to make a premium purchase like this, targeting 4K video is the bait.nathanddrews - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
"This also means that the SHIELD Android TV will not be doing any HD audio bitstreaming"Stopped reading.
Sivar - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
``Consumers need to get their expectations right - the SHIELD Android TV needs consideration only if OTT streaming (4K Netflix, in particular) and gaming credentials are important.''The key feature I need is HEVC compatibility. I have many Blu-rays that I encode with FLAC audio, but with my FireTV, I am unable to use HEVC.
Are you saying that the Shield Android-TV is a poor choice for my requirements?
ganeshts - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
If you are savvy enough to encode your Blu-rays with HEVC, then I am sure you understand what I am trying to convey..The typical media library also includes TV programs that are interlaced MPEG-2 (for example). The SHIELD is currently not a good solution for such a case.
I have outlined clearly what works and what doesn't. In your case, I would still suggest waiting for a proper HTPC with HDMI 2.0 / HEVC support unless HEVC-encoded Blu-ray rips are the only media files you plan to play in your setup.
TheJian - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Being savvy enough to check a few boxes doesn't mean you know everything about formats. You can muddle through handbrake without doing much more than selecting a profile for your device. The person states they are wanting FLAC+HEVC yet you tell him wait for HTPC. HE was clear in what he needed, so you should just say yes it plays what you need, or no it doesn't instead of a flippant response :( He likely has other players for other formats already hence his main feature desired is what he inquired about.But still you're acting as if mpeg2 interlaced is all anyone wants and a reason to NOT buy it, when I'd suggest it's not many people (that can’t get that some other way until this unit CAN do it, like a dvd player or bluray player in your rack already) and most would want all the other stuff this thing can play NOT just bluray HEVC encoded stuff. IE, anything in mkv/mp4 with dolby etc in h264/x264 (which is most libraries of current content and mostly what people rip bluray to also as you even note in the review). This thing plays a LOT more than hevc. IF you're only going to use the NATIVE Android Tv player then it's somewhat limited, but you're not stuck with that and can choose a dozen or more others (paid or free). 3rd party stuff can easily be had to get around it all if not now then at some point most likely. IE you mention kodi can play mpeg2 without license in software. You also mention Deinterlacing might be added soon to Kodi. So your problem with the device here just a software fix away anyway (and only the interlaced part is a problem correct?)? There are many free apps that can deinterlace already on PC for conversion even if players that do it on android don’t exist…but wait for it…
Just check googleplay store: BSplayer, MX player Pro, KMplayer, vlc, etc (not saying which does the job just noting a bunch):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSBG13gknoA
1080i mpeg 2 on mxplayer without transcoding. Appears this would solve your combo problem, and this is really old version of the software from 2013 post running on nexus 2013. I’m thinking your excuse for not buying is dead already. You can use de-interlacing option in MX player > settings > decoder. Considering you MENTIONED MX Player in your review, you can’t be this ignorant right or am I missing something? Unlike the OP who may NOT know about all this stuff, you definitely DO know about MX player yet seem to be unable to pass the chance to find some reason to KNOCK an nvidia product even when you know what I just showed fixes it. Typical Anandtech BIAS against Nvidia stuff (**cough AMD portal cough**) here or what?
From your last sentence it almost seems as you're acting like HEVC encoded blurays is all it does, which is categorically false (even though that is what the guy said he wanted to play as a main feature).
Worse you even state most people do the following (which it plays fine):
"The SHIELD Android TV / Kodi combination has absolutely no trouble with the vanilla H.264 files that people usually rip their Blu-rays to."
But no ignore that, it doesn't play mpeg2 interlaced stuff (yet, at least out of the box, but seems to with at least mxplayer as shown which you know about) so it sucks...LOL. OK...Whatever. With 100million-500million installs I think most know about this app (free with ads, $6 without) yet you avoid using it for testing. 2.8million reviews too...LOL. That has to be one of the MOST KNOWN apps on android as most use videos on mobile. How well it works on a TV who knows (10 foot interface? Not sure) but that isn't the point. Worst case you just use it for specific vids with issues. .ts files play fine on mx player also. It seems to have many multiples of the installs of kodi (or xbmc if you like). Kodi on the other hand is only available to the handful of people that can find it (not directly on googleplay so to speak).
http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/04/03/kodi-forme...
You can follow how to get to it above I guess if desired (from googleplay & not sideloaded). Maybe this will help it gain popularity ;)
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=160720&...
Instructions here too I guess.
MX Player features (among other stuff):
"Plays almost every movie files including .3gp .avi .divx .f4v .flv .mkv .mp4 .mpeg .mov .vob .wmv .webm .xvid and many more."
Either I'm missing something here, or don't really get the complaints you're making nor your flippant response to the OP. Are you saying MX Player with deinterlacing checked won't work for mpeg2 as shown in the supplied youtube video? That guy is testing 1080i mpeg2 on it. I'm confused.
Adding-Color - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
My ibothsion is that it will play hevc/h.265 content with hardware acceleration and flac should have no licensing issues and doesn't need hardware acceleration, software acceleration should very well be possible on such a beefy SOC. I don't know if there's yet a software avaible that combines both though.Adding-Color - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
My impression ...Aegrum - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Perhaps I missed it, but to me the killer feature is streaming my steam library to my TV from my GTX 680 desktop. Why didn't you cover that? I couldn't care less about the android games. Being able to plop down on my couch and stream Witcher 3 from my PC is worth the price of admission, as it nullifies any desire for a steambox, if it works well.jjj - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
The 50$ Sream Link should do that in a few months. If it works well enough , getting this just for that feature is excessive.Aegrum - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Sadly that price doesn't include the Steam controller, which is likely to be at least $50. I'm also in need of a streaming device for the television, so while yes, a steam link + controller + chromecast would be ~$135, I think the extra capabilities of this device for $200 is a fair price. Plus it's 4K ready for once I get a 4K TV, and all on one HDMI input that I don't have to switch between. And plays more than just what I have in Steam, though unconfirmed whether Steam link will play non-steam titles or not.I like the Steam link, especially for the price, but for me I think the Shield console is a better fit.
Ryan Smith - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
It's a matter of time in covering everything, along with the fact that GameStream is not a new technology in the ecosystem. Once the commercial GRID service launches, we'll be taking a more focused look at gaming on the SHIELD.Sonicadvance1 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Hello. Dolphin emulator developer here.I've had an Nvidia SHIELD Android TV in my hands for a while now.
I'd like to clarify in my comment the CPU and GPU speeds on this device
The Cortex-A57s max clock speed is 2.01Ghz, and the Maxwell GPU's max clock speed is 998Mhz.
I haven't checked the Cortex-A53's max clock speeds because being a Dolphin developer I effectively don't care about them.
jjj - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Got to wonder if it wouldn't be more appealing as a Linux PC or even a Chromebox. In those segments the pricing wouldn't be as unreasonable.funtasticguy - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Sonicadvance1, how does the Dolphin emulator work on this? What kind of speed improvement does this offer compared to the Tegra K1?Sonicadvance1 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
It runs the new AArch64(ARMv8) JIT recompiler for the CPU core, which lets it run a few games full speed. This new core will take a long while to become fully optimized, but I'm taking steps to make it easier to profile the code's performance from Android which will help in the future.This new CPU core is going to be more maintainable than the old 32bit ARMv7 CPU core.
funtasticguy - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Thanks for your reply!Wardrive2015 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Thank you Sonicadvance1 for the clarification on the clocks. Would you say single threaded performance is roughly equal to that of Denver?Sonicadvance1 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
It's about on par, slightly better in some cases.Due to the Denver's quirky architecture the A57s will be quicker than the Denver in code that only executes a few times. This is due to the Denver only recompiling code to native VLIW if it has been called a certain number of times(This number is undisclosed).
For code that executes over and over the two CPUs are about on par with each ones winning depending on the situation.
Haydon987 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
The big question is, can it do HDMI 2.0 with HDCP 2.2 at 4:4:4 all at the same time? Last I heard, no HDCP decoding chip currently in existence does this.They all downgrade to 4:2:0 when playing protected content and can only do 4:4:4 when playing unprotected content, which is about nothing other than gaming.
Haydon987 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
At 4K, I should add.Morawka - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
the chip and the wires (hdmi) have the necessary bandwidth, so shouldn't be a issue.Haydon987 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Shouldn't be in the case of dozens of currently existing devices, but in every case so far of any publicly available hardware I've seen, all encrypted content comes out 4:2:0 at 4k, so it would be nice for a vendor to acknowledge if it plays 4k hdcp 2.2 at 4:4:4 or just plays unencrypted stuff (like games, menus, ads, etc.) at 4:4:4 at 4k. Until a vendor specifically states it, I have my doubts. Sure all the features are listed to make it sound good to people who don't look too deeply into it, but they don't state when the features are interoperable.It's like a person listing for a spec sheet about themselves:
1. I can run 17 miles per hour
2. I can run 25 miles
This does not mean that this person can run 25 miles at 17 miles per hour. They are just 2 separately listed specs. Chances are they only maintain that speed for a few seconds.
In this case what is most likely:
1. I can play without color compression (4:4:4)
2. I can play protected content at 4k (hdcp 2.2), but I won't tell you if that is compressed or not.
ganeshts - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
That is definitely an interesting question, but it is somewhat moot.. let me explain:Getting specs out of the way, the SHIELD does support RGB 4:4:4 at 4Kp60 on the HDMI port.
Now, all video content that consumers play back - Netflix or Blu-rays and the like - they are all encoded in 4:2:0 - In this case, the consumer has nothing to gain or lose whether the conversion to 4:4:4 is done on the source side or the sink side. So, HDCP 2.2 with just 4:2:0 support is fine.
On the other hand, for professional applications, where content is processed in 4:2:2 or even 4:4:4 format, it will be a problem - but, it is likely that the workflow process in that case doesn't involve protected content - the protection is applied / needed only on the consumer delivery side.
Again, this is an interesting aspect, and one that I will definitely be questioning HDMI source / sink vendors on. It is just that it doesn't matter for consumer applications.
457R4LDR34DKN07 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I'm interested in trying this with a hdhomerun prime with the live tv app. Does this android tv device support mpeg 2 decoding?457R4LDR34DKN07 - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
"The typical media library also includes TV programs that are interlaced MPEG-2 (for example). The SHIELD is currently not a good solution for such a case."Thanks, not for me then
Ryan Smith - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
The Live Channels app supports hardware MPEG-2 decoding, including deinterlacing. That functionality just isn't available to other media playback applications, since it was licensed for just the Live Channels app.DanCar - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
The recommendation row can be turned off partially or fully in settings -> System Preferences (3rd row) -> home screenYou can select which sources to enable and disable.
ganeshts - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
Somehow, I am not able to follow the path you are referring to..Under settings, I have Device > System, and under that nothing about Home Screen.. Do you have a video or set of screenshots showing the path?
I know that it is possible to go into the settings of a particular app and turn off the Notifications for that app - on Android TV, that turns off the 'Recommendations' - this is what I had done for the YouTube video showing the Android TV UI. The Recommendations row doesn't seem to have an option to turn it off completely..
BuddyRich - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I was hoping they spent the money and licensed the codecs but no HD Audio or DTS (or MPEG2 or VC1) is a bummer. At least in the case of the video codecs the CPU is fast enough to decode in software. Will not replace my HTPC. Its funny they license them for their videocards, including their cheapest passive ones but not their premium set-top box. And the box doesn't even have to decode it, just pass it through to a receive, that shouldn't require a license at all.One thing that was unclear in your review though, if I use HDHomerun/Live TV app will it decode and deinterlace MPEG2 via hardware since the app is licensed? If so is this supported on Shield like it is on Nexus Player?
At least they shipped with working Netflix, unlike Razor.
webdoctors - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Why is a license needed if its just bit-streaming? If i connect it to my amp and my amp separates the hdmi video from the audio signals, why would the licensing matter on this box?funtasticguy - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
As usual, what a great and thorough review!I have 2 questions:
1) Can you plug in 2 or more USB hard drives and use Kodi to read files from both external hard drives?
2) Does it offer read and write support for external NTFS hard drives?
Thanks!
ZOONAMI - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Any one know what the hdd speed is? Assuming 5400 but hoping for 7200rpm.ganeshts - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Yes on both countsfuntasticguy - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Awesome! Thanks for your reply!ZOONAMI - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Any one know what the hdd speed is? Assuming 5400 but hoping for 7200rpmDanaGoyette - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Since it has HDMI 2.0, can it drive 1920x1080 at 120Hz? If your monitor is 120Hz, you can play 24fps videos smoothly, by showing each frame 5 times.ganeshts - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
The Android TV framework currently allows only 60 Hz refresh rate. But, yes, hardware is capable of 120 Hz output at 1080p.frankiepoon - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Can the native android player plays 4K HEVC 60fps TS smoothly? e.g. Samsung 4K Demoganeshts - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Yes, you can see it in our HEVC decode section.frankiepoon - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Can you test if this Japanese 4K HEVC TS play smoothly? (video sync with audio at the begining)https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2z6bZD6sZHreFV2a...
(4K HEVC 60fps 10bit BT.2020)
ganeshts - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
It plays perfectly! As in, the audio seems to start a bit before the video starts, but when the pianist and the accompanying people start to speak, the audio and video are in sync.This was with the native Android Video Player
frankiepoon - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
Thx a lot, I will buy one then!OrphanageExplosion - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Android gaming just doesn't really work. The frame-pacing on every non-60fps title I've played is all over the place. So much judder :/AgeOfPanic - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Just wanted to complement you on the review. Somehow this site almost always manages to answer all the questions I have about a product I'm interested in. For me the current lack of refresh rate switching and bitstreaming of HD audio means that I'll pass for now, but I will follow the developments. I'm a little pessimistic, because the focus here is on streaming video and not HTPC use and there the lack of these features is less of a deal breaker.ruthan - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Yes, there is few design flaws and price for 500 GB model is too high, but it looks like best android gaming console without real competitor.fteoath64 - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Get the 16GB model and stick your own USB disk into it!. Solved.robertjan88 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
So, just to double check, file types like MKV, MP4 etc are fully supported for playback from an external HDD or SD-card? And x264 MKV?They're only listing H264 and 265, but no clue what the types are. :(
And what about the audio? Normal stereo, 5.1 and PCM are supported?
Many thanks for the feedback!
jwcalla - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
As far as I know, container types have never been restricted on Android. It usually comes down to whether the software (app) supports them.BrokenCrayons - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Is there really that much of a market for non-mobile devices like this? I admit I don't know much about Android TV, but I guess if it supports a wireless keyboard and touchpad as well as letting you download an office suite it'd be somewhat flexible, but you still can't easily pick it up and take it with you to your couch or go to a coffee shop and use it to write while you're getting away from your apartment so it strikes me as extremely redundant with a tablet and even less useful in light of the fact that x86 Windows operating systems are now available on a tablet for lower cost than this screenless and batteryless device. Sure it's faster, but most of that performance is invested in graphical capabilities that aren't very important when you're playing a quick YouTube video, sending an e-mail, or writing something in a word processor. Plus, you have to also buy a screen for it which drives up the purchase price significantly since even a 15 inch screen would add another $100 or more.jwcalla - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
You use a tablet as an HTPC?I don't think this device is intended for sending e-mails or writing documents.
BrokenCrayons - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Tablets with Windows 8.1 are very nice, inexpensive devices that can play videos and do a lot of other useful things, including running the usual library of x86 Windows software. While I think it's nice that nv is working on stuff like this, it just doesn't compete at all in flexibility with even something like a HP Stream desktop (the cute little blue tupperware-looking PC they sell for about the same price as this thing). Okay, okay, so you can display stuff on a 4k screen, but those aren't common and a lot of people, myself included, don't even own an external screen and would never consider buying one because they don't want to be stuck in one place passively consuming pre-recorded media. That seems like such an obsolete concept.Yojimbo - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
You either have a lot of extra money or live alone. What happens to the TV when you take the tablet away? Why pay for a screen, camera, battery, and shock resistance, etc., or deal with power throttling when you don't have to? Any tablet that can do what the Shield TV can do is going to cost a lot more than the Shield TV. Plus the Shield TV doesn't look like someone left a tablet lying around. This is selling for $200 with a controller. The Shield Tablet cost $300 without a controller and with less I/O connectivity.savagemike - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
It also won't toast bread - which my toaster does just fine. So I too don't see the point.TheJian - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Not sure why this can't replace your HTPC when you can load OTHER players that can do the things you call shortcomings of the built-in player (like kodi, VLC, Powerdvd's android app). It seems to me you should be able to get around any shortcomings with other apps.I see you said VLC doesn't work that well on shield right now (what do you mean by this comment ?), but what about running something like powerdvd from the PC as noted to get around issues? The android app will accept streaming from local PC's running PowerDVD which plays everything this won't I think. Most people even pondering an HTPC already have a full PC in another room on the network so any shortcomings here should be covered by that I'd guess (including playing blurays etc).
Why wasn't the Intel device shown in more stuff? IE, gfxbench, pcmark, Basemark 2? IE why not thrown in the surface 3 for these which you already have the scores for?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9219/the-surface-3-r...
Saves me from bouncing back and forth to see how badly Intel got killed ;) You had surface 3 pro scores too as shown, why leave them out? Manhattan offscreen 1080p shows Surface 3 pro at 29fps, why not include it when you already have those scores? You had PCmark scores for Surface3 pro also shown above. Are the work portions completely different? Are the other pcmark tests not able to run on surface 3 pro? Photo editing/video playback etc PCMark benchmarks don't work on them? You had all the gfxbench scores for both surface3 pro and regular also. I don't get why you put them in for some stuff, but exclude listing those in other tests when you had the data.
daggre - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
1. It's too expensive. It needs to be $99 like the Apple TV was before they dropped the price to $69. I know that's a huge drop and it may not be possible with the current specs (yet) but it won't ever be successful if it's more than $100.2. It needs to play all Android games, and then play Android TV games really really well. It may already do this but it wasn't clear from the article. Any games nVidia makes should be for Android TV in general (i.e. "Controllers instead of touch") but should really shine on Shield. If anyone plays a game on a different Android TV they should say to themselves "I wish I had bought a Shield" so then those games become both guides to other developers of what their Android TV games should be like, but also become advertisements to gamers on any Android device that the game they are playing on their phone/tablet/other Android TV hardware would be a better experience on the Shield.
In the end, if they don't have really good 3rd party support this will fail. Only Apple is capable of pulling a success out of the air (Apple TV) without 3rd party offerings, and even they had to open up to Netflix, Hulu, HBO and the sports channels.
malooka - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
The Matricom MX2 Midnight is about 79.00 You can get a fly mote (like a Wii remote) it has two partitions one side for internet and gaming and the other side for KODI They have a newer versioin out but I like my model which is a little cheaper. The xbmx which is now KODI is the streaming side. I love this box. You can find it on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_7_14?url=s...bernstein - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Seems a bit like a missed opportunity...- no HD bitstreaming, no legacy hardware decoding...
- pairing a GTX960 class GPU (8 SMM instead of two) with an octo-core A57 might feasible for a $300-350 price point. Especially if it could dualboot steam os...
hifiaudio2 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
It is being said that Nvidia is considering a Codec pack to add HD audio passthrough, VC-1, Mpeg2, etc in hardware.It was also said that Mpeg2 hardware is already on the device, but currently only activated when installing a program like the forthcoming Silicondust HDHomerun DVR program that just had a Kickstarter and will come out in a few months (alpha testing to start in June for the Kickstarter backers).
Go the the Nvidia forums and voice your opinion for the Codec to be released!!!
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/836487/sh...
douglord - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
GGames - You say this has 10-bit color output and HDR capability. Do any consumer grade dGPUs have that (along with the HDMI 2.0a and HDCP needs). I'm really concerned about this for my next PC build. Any thought on how to build a UHD Blueray capable 4k HTPC?ganeshts - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
GTX 960 is your only option right now.Wait for a few more months.. other options should start coming out
webdoctors - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
I ordered one. This thing is gonna be great for replacing all the tiny crap I had to keep my PC turned on for. Can install a ftp and media server app, and use a usb 3.0 hub to attach a bunch of HDDs to it. Can stream my media library and maybe even use it for home security surveillance.It seems like a great embedded device for doing a lot of fun things. Hopefully it ain't hard to root and there's a ROM modding community on cyanogen/xda for it soon.
fteoath64 - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Yeah. Thats the spirit. I am thinking exactly the same thing!. Probably millions of others as well. If a version of Ubuntu gets into this, it is total replacement for Windows in the household!.malooka - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
You did not compare the mx2 midnight by matricom and the KODI program for streaming. It has two partitions. One side for the internet and one side for streaming. It is so much better than ROKU.webdoctors - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
The mx2 midnight looks pretty useful, assuming full 1080p compatibility with Netflix. I'm surprised anandtech hasn't reviewed that device yet.javishd - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
I see it has an IR port? IR blaster hopefully?I didn't see anywhere that was tested in this review.
ganeshts - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
It has an IR port for compatibility with Logitech's universal remotes. So, yes, it is there, but it wasn't tested.Udo - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Doh...I just bought this and it is currently being shipped to me via Amazon US to Canada.I wanted a more well rounded video system that was fast, supported voice etc and could play some games when needed.
So is my WDTV Live still a better player overall with
Video:
WMV9, AVI (MPEG1/2/4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), MOV (MPEG4, H.264), M2TS, TP, TS, MOV/MP4 (MPEG4, h.264), DVR-MS, VOB (unprotected or unencrypted)
Audio:
MP3, WMA, MPA, M4A, MP4A, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA
If so, after shipping, taxes, and the remote $366 might have been a mistake.
fteoath64 - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
How could that be a mistake ?. Us prices are as such. It will blow away your WD Live and relegate it to be a USB disk which is not bad really. Think about it, Maxwell based X1 is just amazing.Udo - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Oh for sure. My point was the lack of playback support due to codec licensing constraints is all, not performance.That would be night and day.
Nehemoth - Thursday, August 4, 2016 - link
Not really, I've recently did the same convertion and has been awesome, of course, I did it recently and you did a year ago.Actually, I'm guessing you had plenty of fun with every new update with the Shield.
Just grabbed the Shield and an Extra Controller on Amazon Prime Day for 199, Even sold the controller to a friend who has a Shield Tablet for US50, so my final price would be 100.
Great deal.
CMLevy - Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - link
I am lost! (No, not geographically). I have a 4k and make constant use of Netflix in particular but with probably 25 other video and music apps. Now I need to work towards cancelling my $200/mo. Directv bill. My Smart TV with my Harmony remote provides me with menuing. What would the Nvidia Shield Android TV add to my life?WEBZIGHT - Sunday, July 26, 2015 - link
4K, 4K, I keep hearing all this NONSENSE about 4K and it IS all NONSENSE!Unless you have a SIX FOOT or wider screen YOU CANNOT tell the difference between 4K and normal HD
Are you morons listening?
simplyKawaii - Friday, August 21, 2015 - link
Does anyone have any idea of how I could hook the Shield TV up to a battery source rather than the wall?Nehemoth - Thursday, August 4, 2016 - link
Would like to see an update to this article.jsntech - Friday, September 30, 2016 - link
Hey Ganesh...any chance of a follow-up analysis accounting for major updates since this article was written? Looks like local media playback got some big boosts, among other things? Sadly, the SHIELD TV is still on top of the media player spectrum even 1.5 years later, making updated reports even more important on this "old" hardware.ChloeTigre - Friday, June 30, 2017 - link
https://images.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/...Except that the SHIELD hogs 40W while the AppleTV is just under 3W.
ChloeTigre - Friday, June 30, 2017 - link
I would not like my set-top-box to burn so much energy for the service delivered. Regarding games, I have a PC.