Nvidia has created the most highly-specified media streamer to date with the Shield Android TV. In fact, to call it a mere media streamer would do it a disservice; the 4K-ready, Android TV-powered set-top box is also a games console packed with serious processing power for playing Android games, as well as the ability to stream PC titles over the internet.
Design & Accessories
A fraction larger than a DVD case but with tapered design that sees one corner thicker than the others, the Shield TV is certainly attractive. When laid horizontally, the top is a mixture of matt and glossy black plastic with angular lines, a subtle nVidia logo, and signature glowing LED.
^ Everything you could want from a media streamer, including the all-important microSD card for expanding storage
Around the back is the all-important HDMI 2.0 output for 4K video, along with two USB3 ports that you can use to connect external storage. Gigabit Ethernet is also included, alongside integrated 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
The £150 base model includes 16GB of flash storage, but the microSD card slot means you can add more capacity when you need it. As such, the £220 Shield TV Pro doesn't look like fantastic value; you might get a 500GB hard disk, but it feels a lot like overkill for what is primarily a media player built for streaming, not local content. Perhaps if additional accessories were bundled with the Pro it would be more enticing, but as it stands I think you’re better off with the standard configuration.
^ The Nvidia gamepad isn't as comfortable as an Xbox or PS4 pad, but it gets the job done
A gamepad is included as standard, revealing Nvidia’s gaming focus and justifying the inclusion of the company's Tegra X1 processor - a chip that would be complete over-kill for a conventional media streamer. The X1 is an eight-core, 64-bit system-on-chip paired with a 256-core, Maxwell-based GPU and 3GB of RAM that makes the Shield TV ludicrously powerful compared to rivals like Amazon's Fire TV box, and a capable gaming machine.
The gamepad will be familiar to owners of Nvidia's previous Shield devices, such as the Shield Tablet. It conforms to console controller standards, with dual analogue sticks, front-facing buttons and shoulder-mounted triggers. It’s a high quality controller and for the most part is comfortable to use. The standard Android navigation controls are placed at the centre of the pad, with a touchpad and volume controls at the bottom. The touchpad doesn’t actually function in Android TV; it's a remnant from the Shield Tablet, as Nvidia has merely reused the design. The headphone jack is useful for private listening so you won’t disturb anyone else in the house. It charges from a micro USB port and Nvidia expects you’ll get around 40 hours from a single charge.
The Shield TV Bluetooth remote (around £40) is an optional extra, but is arguably necessary if you want to use the Shield TV as your main media hub. While you can navigate the Android TV interface and even use the voice search functionality perfectly well with the gamepad, it’s a more cumbersome and unwieldy process. The Bluetooth remote is an elegant and lightweight remote that feels nice in your hands thanks to a brushed metal finish.
^ It's a shame the remote doesn't come as standard, as it's great for channel surfing
There’s four-way navigation for getting around the Android TV interface, but it's the microphone search button that takes centre stage. A vertical touch-sensitive pad below it adjusts the volume by swiping up and down, and there's another private listening headphone jack in the base. The usual Android back and home buttons are available, too, with a design borrowed from Google's Android 5.0 Material user interface. As Nvidia has simply reused the gamepad from the Shield Tablet, it has markings for the pre-Lollipop Android navigation buttons.
You could also pick up the optional vertical stand (for a pricy £25) if you want the Shield TV out on display rather than slot it into your AV rack. The Shield TV itself is certainly attractive-looking enough to take pride of place next to your television, so I can see the appeal. The stand has a special friction-based adhesive that locks it firmly to whatever surface you place it on.
Android TV
We’ve voiced concerns about Android TV in the UK before, especially around the shortcomings of the spartan app store. The main Google Play Store might be full to the rafters with apps and services, but they aren’t automatically compatible with Android TV devices - developers have to make their mobile or tablet versions available on the big screen before you can use them. The lack of a touchscreen is an obvious hurdle, but translating UI elements to a larger display doesn’t always make the transition a straightforward affair.
^ Google's apps have been translated perfectly to the big screen, complete with Material UI elements
Here again, as was the case with the Google Nexus Player, lies the Shield Tablet’s greatest shortcoming as a media streamer. Nvidia has developed its own exclusive BBC iPlayer app (with the BBC’s blessing) for its Shield TV devices, but that’s about as far as it gets when it comes to the UK’s terrestrial television catch-up services. There’s no Demand 5, All4 or ITV Player to be seen. While Netflix makes an appearance, there’s no Amazon Instant Video, although the latter might not come as any surprise. However, other apps I would expect, such as Spotify and Twitch, are missing here despite being available on competing devices.
^ Android TV looks as slick as ever, with large, colourful cards appearing in a carousel
Navigating around the Android TV interface was at least a seamless experience. Everything felt silky-smooth and was well presented, save for the occasional hiccup where preview icons didn’t load. Recent or frequently-accessed content is pulled together from various apps and displayed in the main screen carousel for ease of access, which is useful.
Aside from dedicated Android TV-compatible apps, the Shield TV is also a fully-functional Chromecast, meaning you can cast supported content from a smartphone or tablet to your television. In part, this gets around the lack of some catch-up services and apps, but not all of them. If you want to play media from a home server, Plex remains your best bet and the Plex app for Android TV is arguably much slicker than elsewhere, such as on Roku devices.
Guide: How to set up a Plex server
Oddly, despite not having an official Android TV app, game streaming service Twitch is fully integrated throughout the operating system. You can hold down the Home button on the remote control or gamepad at any time to begin streaming to Twitch, or take screenshots of your games.
Voice Search
Typing using a remote control and an onscreen keyboard has never been a fluid experience, so voice search is something of a revelation here. You can make voice searches based around content, or make natural language requests, such as “Ocar-winning movies from 2000” or “Who was in Training Day?”. Of course, Google’s own services are well represented, with YouTube, Google Play Music and Google Play Movies & TV results appearing first in any search.
^ A handy Google Now-style card appears for certain searches, with links to apps - but there's limited third party integration
However, there are limitations again. Only results from certain apps will appear; you’ll get results from Google Play Movies & TV for film and television requests, trailers through YouTube and even content from your Plex library if you have the app installed, but there’s a noticeable absence of Netflix results. You can’t use voice search within the Netflix app, or iPlayer either. It’s a real shame, as otherwise voice searches and commands could have been a genuinely viable way to interact in a couch-friendly manner. As it is, you'll need to type out searches for anything that isn't Google-owned.
I occasionally encountered issues with activating voice searches as well, with the Shield TV seemingly becoming a little confused by my constantly swapping between the gamepad controller and remote control. There would be a delay before the familiar Android voice search tone would emanate from my television speakers, and occasionally it would stop listening for a voice command before I could even make half an utterance.
Netflix and YouTube 4K Streaming
While Amazon might have gotten there first when it comes to 4K support through its new Fire TV, the Shield TV’s coup is its position as the first Android TV-based player with support for 4K streaming through Netflix and YouTube. This is where the Tegra X1’s grunt comes in handy for decoding 4K streams. Your television will need to support HDCP 2.2 to take advantage, however, which could prove a hurdle for some. You’ll also need suitably fast internet, with 10-20MB being the minimum recommended for uninterrupted playback.
Android TV gaming, GeForce Now & GameStream
Beyond taking advantage of that eminently powerful Tegra X1 processor for 4K decoding, gaming is the Shield TV's other major selling point. You have various avenues to access gaming content; the simplest is, of course, the Google Play Store, but there's also the Shield Games hub. This showcases games that can take advantage of the Shield TV’s gaming prowess. There are some surprising inclusions, with Valve's Half Life 2: Episode 2 and Portal having been ported to the Shield TV exclusively, Doom 3 to show off the Shield's processing power, and 'coming soon' placeholders for Resident Evil 5, Metal Gear Rising and Borderlands. The one thing that all of these titles have in common is their age. While it’s impressive they’re running at all on such diminutive hardware, they were all released several years ago now making them not the most enticing.
Aside from a few big name releases, however, the catalogue isn't going to rival anything available from a dedicated games console. There are the usual casual, family-friendly titles you’re probably familiar with on Android, such as Crossy Road and Pac-Man 256, but then there are also more substantial games, too.
^ Nvidia's own apps feature prominently on the home screen
Probably a more useful prospect is Nvidia’s GeForce Now. I first saw this with the Nvidia Shield Tablet, back when it was originally called Nvidia Grid. This is Nvidia’s take on cloud-based gaming, where its own servers handle the actual processing and a video feed of the game is streamed to you. While it was free while in Beta, there’s now a subscription model in place costing £7.50 a month. The first three months are free to Shield TV owners, however.
Provided you have sufficiently fast internet, I found GeForce Now worked surprisingly well, with latency not causing any issues with platform games or adventure titles. Nvidia recommends a 20Mbps internet connection and a sub-40ms ping for best results. Titles such as Ultra Street Fighter IV, which require fast reflexes and inputs, can feel almost seamless at times. Unless you’re a competitive player used to counting frames, you might not even realise you were streaming a game from the cloud. GeForce Now supports up to 1080p resolution, 60fps streaming, so provided you have a fast enough internet connection it can make for a very enjoyable gaming experience - and one that vastly outmatches anything on offer from Amazon's Fire TV box.
Again, however, there are issues with the calibre of titles available. All of the games are at least a few years old, so those looking to play the latest titles will be left disappointed. The catalogue is ever-expanding, and hopefully the rate of additions will increase now that it’s out of beta and has a paid-for subscription model.
Aside from the titles included in the GeForce Now membership, there are also Buy & Play Instantly titles, which are newer and include the likes of Witcher 3. However, these are expensive, with Witcher 3 costing £49.99 for a title that you’re still streaming. Thankfully, many of the titles available through Buy & Play Instantly will also give you a PC copy that you own, so you’re essentially getting two versions, which makes the price slightly more palatable.
^ supported GameStream titles appear in a list and can be launched from the Shield TV as long as your PC is connected
The final gaming option is using Nvidia’s GameStream to play games from a PC or laptop equipped with an Nvidia graphics card. You’ll need a semi-recent GeForce GTX graphics card, typically a GTX 650 or newer, and a decent router to take advantage of it. I used a gaming laptop fitted with a GTX 970M and a dual-band, 802.11ac router with decent results, provided there were favourable network conditions. This meant locating either the Shield TV or laptop close to the router. Attempting to use GameStream with the Shield TV located a floor away from the router resulted in network errors almost immediately after launching a title. Nvidia recommends a wired network for the best results.
^Games will initially take about 30 seconds to launch, after which it's a slick experience
Again, performance will be dependent on your network conditions but with both the gaming laptop and Nvidia Shield connected to the 5GHz wireless network and both located relatively close to the router it was a seamless, latency-free experience on the big screen. If you can get everything working, it’s a great way to get your PC games to your big screen while taking advantage of your existing gaming system. You can even connect a keyboard and mouse to the Shield TV for games that require them, such as RTS titles or MOBAs.
Conclusion
The Shield TV is undeniably the best-equipped media streamer out there, but Android TV is still a limiting factor. There are far cheaper alternatives out there that will happily get Netflix and more to your television, if that's all you're after. Even Chromecast support can’t get around the lack of services, as not all of the big name TV channels support casting. If you’re only after something to stream video and catch-up services, save your money and go for a Roku 3.
Instead, the Shield TV’s strengths lie in gaming. There might be a lack of enticing Android content to make the Shield TV a viable gaming system, but Nvidia's three-pronged attack ensures there's multiple ways to play. GameStream in particular works well if you want to play PC games on the big screen, even if it's dependent on you having the necessary hardware and a capable router. GeForce Now is still in the early stages, so hopefully Nvidia can get more games developers on board and expand the number of available titles in the future. And this is all before you get started with emulation, which might be legally ambiguous but there's no question the Shield TV is powerful enough to mimic even recent consoles and handhelds.
4K support ensures the Shield TV is future-proof, albeit at the mercy of streaming services and their Android TV plans. That’s still a bit of a gamble right now, so it may only appeal to those happy enough with its gaming capabilities today.
Video outputs: HDMI 2.0, Networking: Bluetooth (SBC), Dimensions: 210x130x25mm, Streaming formats: UPnP (via Chromecast), Plex, Internet streaming services: Netflix, TuneIn Radio, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Play Music, Plex