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Imgonnatrythis ,

Nvidia has pretty much dropped this. I don’t forsee another version in the next three years. I don’t see anything you listed that wouldn’t be a good reason to go for the regular shield though and save some money. It’s still a good product. I would buy now.

antibios ,

Pi4 and Kodi in the form of OSMC or Libreelec is cheaper and IMO better

Lucidlethargy ,

Will this work fluently with multiple streaming platforms?

utubas ,

How come? Does it support anything higher than 1080p?

Takumidesh ,

As far as I know, the pi4 cannot output 10-bit 4k hdr or Dolby vision, which makes it basically a non-starter as a media box.

I also think it struggles with h.264 high bitrate content.

antibios ,

Mine outputs 10bit HDRjust fine even with DV. Takes changing some settings but it’s not rocket surgery.

sardaukar ,

The biggest issue with Pi and Kodi setups is the lack of good remotes and sleep/standby. Get a Shield if you want stuff to “just work”.

Babalugats ,

Have a look at the Nokia TV Box. Great bit of kit. Sturdy and well built remote. I wouldn’t buy a used shield for sure. And the old Nvidia shield is pretty much the same spec as the latest one IIRC. There’s not much between them. The shield often drops in price on Amazon too (Europe).

I haven’t heard of anything newer coming out soon from Nvidia and for the price difference I would definitely go for the Nokia, allowing you to also save your cash if Nvidia do bring out a new version.

tomkatt ,

The Shield TV should still dramatically outperform the chipset in the Nokia box. Shield will do everything it does and more, and runs a higher Android version.

gadgetversus.com/…/amlogic-s905x3-vs-nvidia-tegra…

t8d ,

In the context of a TV Streaming Box, the decoder itself is basically the only large factor… and as the site you provided shows, the nokia box supports h.265 4k@75hz, and 4k@30hz h.264. VP6/7 seem to be unlisted, so I can’t tell if that’s a mistake, or would be deferred to the CPU for decode. This ends up leaving the question which services are you wanting to stream, and which encoder are they using?

The CPU/GPU only need to be fast enough to smoothly run the UI, and other possible decompression tasks that aren’t h.264/h.265.

Babalugats ,

I’m not doubting that the shield TV would be a superior box. But just that I wouldn’t buy a used one, and for the money the Nokia box is a great box, well built until OP can decide to buy a new shield or at least wait until new shield is mentioned or released.

phx ,

Look for one used. They tend to pop up fairly regularly around here

Sused ,

Raspberry pi and kodi

iMike ,

I sold mine due to video stuttering that I couldn’t fix, I bought fire cube instead.

Sawzall ,

Bleh, good luck with all the advertisers and shitty interface.

iMike ,

What ads? I don’t notice any really. I think the interface is great, I’ve got my pinned apps straight away on the home screen, everything loads instantly and I’ve got dedicated buttons on the remote for Netflix and Disney+, don’t need anything else and I use my laptop for Plex server.

LUHG_HANI ,
@LUHG_HANI@lemmy.world avatar

Yeh. Dedicated buttons suck farts.

Lucidlethargy ,

They fixed that on the latest models. They actually got a LOT better over time after multiple updates.

I have the tube, so it’s not even the pro, and it plays everything… Even crazy huge 4k streams.

iMike ,

Did they fix it though? I can see a post from 6 months ago complaining about stuttering…

Aren’t they releasing a new shield anyway?

crimsdings ,

I am using a Chromecast 4k and I am quite happy with it … what would the shield accomplish better ?

Natanael ,

Better performance for Android TV apps

Rehwyn ,

Better app performance, better upscaling, game streaming (though you’ll need to use something like Moonlight for local streaming now), better audio format support for local Plex/Jellyfin servers.

TheShortWhiteGiraffe ,

Plex server

Lucidlethargy ,

Oh man, I HATE to say it, but the old 4k fire stick is a lot better than the latest 4k chromecast.

The shield tube is better than both of these, though. But yeah… Such old hardware. They need to release something new. Still, it works with very few issues.

steal_your_face ,
@steal_your_face@lemmy.ml avatar

In my experience the WiFi modem in this thing is shit.

Sawzall ,

Agreed. I have a Google node literally right next to it and it still drops the sig.

Its_not_Dave ,

There is actually such a thing as too close

Sawzall ,

Well, it’s 7 feet ish…

SeatBeeSate ,

Why not just run a cable?

Sawzall ,

It’s just a ‘booster’ not a hub

deleted ,

AI upscale is not worth it in my opinion unless you watch old blueray rips since compression algorithms would make upscaling worse in some cases.

I have Apple tv and linux pc for my 2 tvs.

If Apple tv cover your needs then go for it. I got it used in 2017 (I believe gen 3) and still butter smooth to this day.

SnipingNinja ,

I’m just waiting for the EU to force Apple to be open, then I’ll move to everything Apple, maybe.

deleted ,

Hopefully they will. I was bummed when I knew that apple tv has no vpn functionality.

ratman150 ,

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think they recently added vpn support to Apple TV.

deleted ,

I think so.

Last time I tried to use a vpn was like 2019

bingbong ,

For real, other than locking down 3rd party app stores, apple products are pretty damn good.

ProperlyProperTea ,

What distro/software are you using?

deleted ,

I’m currently running debian 12. The tv is mainly used for YouTube so ublock origin + dearrow + sponsorblock + thumbdown back.

Unfortunately the only downside is HDR support. I had to use clunky smart tv software to run Jellyfin for HDR content.

I’ve tried KODE. It’s still not mature for my taste.

Lucidlethargy ,

I strongly disagree. The AI upscaling is incredibly practical. I have a 4k TV, and most 1080p shows and movies look insanely sharp. It’s not a gimmick.

This said, I don’t think anyone should buy these new right now. They need to release an update.

Don’t go with Apple TV, just buy a fire stick for next to nothing and wait for the next shield. That, or buy used.

deleted ,

It’s not a gimmick, however, not all videos would be better after the upscaling.

720p blueray rips yes. 720p YouTube compressed to hell no.

And regarding firestick, and on top of the performance gap, I don’t trust Amazon.

kratoz29 ,

I have one and it is pretty amazing, but it sucks for Kodi from time to time, usually a reboot fixes all the annoyances… But I don’t like that workaround.

My unit was downgraded to 8.2.3 and debloated for the sake of a better performance.

Kushan ,
@Kushan@lemmy.world avatar

It’s probably worth saying that I think the issues with Kodi are down to Kodi itself and not the shield. That is to say you’ll have similar issues on a fire stick or Chromecast 4k or whatever.

I have up on Kodi after having used it successfully for years on a raspberry pi. I switched to Emby and it has been much more stable.

TooJ20 ,

on the flip side, i also dowgraded to 8.2.3 and debloated. i have zero issues with Kodi using PKC with direct play over a wired connection.

kratoz29 ,

Wait a few weeks without reboot and check again, although usually it does pretty well with PKC, especially if you have light local media.

TheWiseAlaundo , (edited )

Despite being 4 years old it’s still one of the better options, though with caveats. The one thing that it has that nothing else really has is real time AI upscaling. I’ve stopped using my Shield, and went back to using Roku boxes and Raspberry Pi 4B’s… so it’s hard for me to really recommend the Shield.

Nvidia has pretty much abandoned GeForce Experience, so despite this being a selling point for the device, you’d be happier using Moonlight + Sunshine even if you did buy a Shield. The Nvidia Shield also has terrible input lag for bluetooth controllers. I think this because of how Android blocks direct access to hardware, and so it introduces input lag. So if you actually want to use GeForce Experience, it means you’d have to buy and 8bitdo USB stick, or pay for VirtualHere to fix the controller problem. I personally setup a Raspberry Pi 4B with Moonlight and I’m much happier with that.

For Plex, I’d be hesitant. Over on Reddit I keep reading about how people have attempted using the Shield to run their home media, and it’s usually followed with regret. I didn’t get into streaming locally until after I stopped using my Shield, though so I can’t personally attest to that. Instead, I’m using a second Pi to run a NAS and Jellyfin… and again, the Shield might be preferable if you want everything in one unit.

So, I can’t exactly recommend the Nvidia Shield… but at the same time I don’t think most people would have the time to build their own Raspberry Pi based solutions either.

kratoz29 ,

The Nvidia Shield also has terrible input lag

I am usually not very exigent with input lag, but I noticed this when I tried it with my Shield, I won’t deny what you just say, but to me it did great help to turn the gaming mode in my TV, after all the input lag is almost imperceptible for me.

Hasuris ,

I use the original shield controller and it’s great with no input lag. I never got the headphone jack on it working though.

lemmyBeHere ,

But can you completely copy the UX of a shield pro with raspberry pi?

I mean, I can grab the TV’s remote, or the shields remote, and whichever I turn on, both of them turn on. It also wakes up from sleep faster than the TV turns on. I can use the TV’s remote to control the shield. Basically it works completely transparently.

It also makes it work really nice with android phones. I can cast spotify, youtube, google photos, or the screen onto the TV, and it works better than the TV’s cast with the apps.

I used Plex and while it worked nice for most of the time, I got fed up with it trying to steer me away from local streaming, and having a hard time finding my way back to it in the therrible UI. I set up Jellyfin and couldn’t be happier, HDR, Dolby Vision, 4K streaming just works perfectly.

The UI is much faster than a flagship LG TV too…

What I’m asking is… is it possible to set up an RPi to work this seamlessly and user friendly? With apps like netflix, hbo max, jellyfin, etc, with a remote and nice and easy UI so anyone can use it on their first try?

retrieval4558 ,

The UX wouldn’t be a problem. Transcoding may be, though.

Natanael ,

There are IrDA adapters which can let it react to your remote, so yes

Rehwyn ,

I’ve had an overall good experience with Plex and my Shield, though in my case I only use Shield as a client and my NAS hosts my server. Of the commercial streamers you can buy, it has some of the broadest video/audio format support. A lot of other options don’t support lossless audio like TrueHD or DTS-MA.

tinsuke ,
@tinsuke@lemmy.world avatar

I have the OG Shield Pro, with an additional remote, the most recebt one.

Besides changing the inner HDD for a SSD, it does all I need.

Sure, it doesn’t support the HDMI 2.1 that my TV does, but I don’t need that for what the Shield does for me (YouTube, Netflix and Plex playback).

bandario ,
@bandario@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I had issues with that lack of HDMI 2.1 support.

Tried to pair mine with an LG CX OLED and could not for the life of me get it to reliably run at 4K.

It chooses its own dogshit res and it looks bad even though it scales well. Not about to watch a bad picture on such an expensive display.

GeekySalsa ,

Imo, it’ll take 1-3 more birthdays until a new one comes out. Is there anything specific you’d want them to upgrade? The only clear thing they’re missing right now is av1 support. Given that it’s still the best player on the market, I’d say go ahead and get it. Maybe try to find one second hand to save a buck, that’s what I did earlier this year 🙂.

Hazdaz ,

I love my shield, so while ot is rather expensive and it seems like there won’t be future models, I still would have bought it.

ZephyrXero ,

Nvidia has all but backed out of the mobile chip market, and those chips are what this line used. So that’s why we haven’t seen any updates in years. But the good news is they have made a new chip for Nintendo’s next-gen switch coming out sometime next year. So within a year of that coming out, I would expect to finally see a new Shield or Nvidia TV or whatever they call it, using a similar chip to what goes in the Switch 2

NotMyOldRedditName ,

Switch 2 launch: we heard you all say you wanted better battery life, so we delivered, 3x the battery life for the same performance! Get your switch 2 today, all switch games will work on switch 1 or 2!

swab148 ,
@swab148@startrek.website avatar

Honestly that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Car ,

Not the worst, but I’d like the ability to have consistent 30fps across the board for all titles if we’re going for 2x the battery life. 60fps for the same battery life would be even better!

ABCDE ,

The same performance… please no.

Schmeckinger ,

The oled switch chip has way higher performance than switch v1, but its just underclocked so it has the same. You can overclock it so you have 60 fps in the botw. But the battery life and thermals suffer.

ProvableGecko ,

all no switch games will work on switch 1 or 2!

This is Nintendo we are taking about after all

turkalino ,
@turkalino@lemmy.yachts avatar

Trump leans into mic wrong Nintendo has a superb track record as far as backwards compatibility

Maven ,
@Maven@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Nintendo traditionally has only broken backwards compatibility as part of a major change in form factor. The Wii could play Gamecube games, the Wii U could play Wii games. The Gameboy Colour could play Gameboy games, the Gameboy Advance could play Gameboy Colour games, the DS could play Gameboy Advance games, the 3DS could play DS games.

Given the Switch 2 is still a hybrid handheld, it would be out of character for them to break it.

TheGrandNagus ,

I’m all for bashing Nintendo but this one is a straight up mistruth.

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