NVidia Shield TV

davisdavid · 3 Sep 2015 at 13:58

Does anyone own one yet or have any thoughts on it? My missus bought me one last week for my birthday. She must have got it from the US Amazon site as it has the US adapter and as far as I'm aware isn't out in the UK til later in Q3.

I must say it is pretty impressive so far, especially as it is running Android and links very easily with my desktop and GeForce.

Not had any issues apart from Witcher 3 doesn't play 100% smoothly on it from my GoG Library but the steam games run really well. Seems like a great piece of kit though will reassess once Grid becomes a subscription service.

BMox81 · 7 Sep 2015 at 18:02

davisdavid said:
Does anyone own one yet or have any thoughts on it? My missus bought me one last week for my birthday. She must have got it from the US Amazon site as it has the US adapter and as far as I'm aware isn't out in the UK til later in Q3.

I must say it is pretty impressive so far, especially as it is running Android and links very easily with my desktop and GeForce.

Not had any issues apart from Witcher 3 doesn't play 100% smoothly on it from my GoG Library but the steam games run really well. Seems like a great piece of kit though will reassess once Grid becomes a subscription service.

Concerning the adapter-did it have a UK one in there with it?

Huntyz · 7 Sep 2015 at 18:33

Hi i bought mine from the rainforest last month and have been using it a lot (had a phone call from Washington to verify address but it was here the day after i bought it), I retired my fire TV after i got this as its so much better and more powerful.

The US Shield does come with a UK adapter so I'm not sure why they cant release it here yet.

I rooted / unlocked and flashed a custom ROM which is normal android and not android TV, It's way way better than using android TV and i control it using droidmote with my phone mainly but also use my TV remote as it allows controlling devices through HDMI and the shield remote itself.

Fire TV remote works with it also so you don't need to buy the shield remote but i did anyway (allows you to plug headphones into the remote and listen to whatever your playing wireless while muting the TV)

Kodi runs way better than it did on the fire tv for me.

Overall I'm very Impressed with this box and wont need to upgrade it for a long time i feel and not stuck with some crappy locked down user interface either.

I bought the pro model 500GB.

BMox81 · 7 Sep 2015 at 18:53

Huntyz said:
Hi i bought mine from the rainforest last month and have been using it a lot (had a phone call from Washington to verify address but it was here the day after i bought it), I retired my fire TV after i got this as its so much better and more powerful.

The US Shield does come with a UK adapter so I'm not sure why they cant release it here yet.

I rooted / unlocked and flashed a custom ROM which is normal android and not android TV, It's way way better than using android TV and i control it using droidmote with my phone mainly but also use my TV remote as it allows controlling devices through HDMI and the shield remote itself.

Fire TV remote works with it also so you don't need to buy the shield remote but i did anyway (allows you to plug headphones into the remote and listen to whatever your playing wireless while muting the TV)

Kodi runs way better than it did on the fire tv for me.

Overall I'm very Impressed with this box and wont need to upgrade it for a long time i feel and not stuck with some crappy locked down user interface either.

I bought the pro model 500GB.

Have you had any grief regarding updating the Shield to 1.4? EDIT-saw that you flashed a ROM into it.

Why did you get calls about verifying your address? Did you not have it delivered to your home address then?

Huntyz · 7 Sep 2015 at 19:07

Why did you get calls about verifying your address? Did you not have it delivered to your home address then?

I'm not sure really but it ordered it from rainforest UK which was from a US seller but it was stored in the UK warehouse and listed as get it next day so i gave it a go as i was checking it a few days a week to see if i could get one (been waiting to buy one since it was announced).

An Indian lady i could barely understand from a Washington number which when i looked it up was rainforest support just asked me to say my address and postcode to verify which i gave her and i received the shield and remote the next day around 10am.

Plugged it in updated and it worked fine but i didn't like android TV interface as you cant install certain apps because they aren't suited to the TV interface or something (need to side load then navigate through options to load apps which is annoying) so i looked on XDA and found someone used the Nvidia source to compile a native android ROM which works a treat.

BMox81 · 7 Sep 2015 at 21:42

Huntyz said:
I'm not sure really but it ordered it from rainforest UK which was from a US seller but it was stored in the UK warehouse and listed as get it next day so i gave it a go as i was checking it a few days a week to see if i could get one (been waiting to buy one since it was announced).

An Indian lady i could barely understand from a Washington number which when i looked it up was rainforest support just asked me to say my address and postcode to verify which i gave her and i received the shield and remote the next day around 10am.

Plugged it in updated and it worked fine but i didn't like android TV interface as you cant install certain apps because they aren't suited to the TV interface or something (need to side load then navigate through options to load apps which is annoying) so i looked on XDA and found someone used the Nvidia source to compile a native android ROM which works a treat.

What version did you go for?

I've been reading that the Shield only comes with the US Plug and you need to either use the Shield tablet adapter and then you can just slide the UK pins into it or use a travel adapter with the US Plug.

Huntyz · 8 Sep 2015 at 06:44

Shield pro 500GB

Mine was a sealed box and had a 2 pin plug and also a UK plug that the US plug pushes into.

I could take a picture if required.

BMox81 · 8 Sep 2015 at 07:36

Huntyz said:
Shield pro 500GB

Mine was a sealed box and had a 2 pin plug and also a UK plug that the US plug pushes into.

I could take a picture if required.

Yeah that would be great-don't really want to be using a travel adapter if I'm being honest.

Huntyz · 8 Sep 2015 at 18:12

Here is the plug.

What it looks like on the TV

BMox81 · 9 Sep 2015 at 08:34

Huntyz said:
Here is the plug.

What it looks like on the TV

Cheers for that mate.

Took the plunge and ordered one last night.

Got a few questions though:

1) How easy is it to set up Smart DNS on this thing? I have a couple of potential apps that this function is required.

2)Will the controller function as a mouse? The apps in question aren't TV optimised. I don't have a wireless mouse/keyboard and don't really want to have to buy them just to log in to a couple of apps.

3)What's the Chromecast functionality like?

Huntyz · 9 Sep 2015 at 20:50

Sugnid said:
Cheers for that mate.

Took the plunge and ordered one last night.

Got a few questions though:

1) How easy is it to set up Smart DNS on this thing? I have a couple of potential apps that this function is required.

2)Will the controller function as a mouse? The apps in question aren't TV optimised. I don't have a wireless mouse/keyboard and don't really want to have to buy them just to log in to a couple of apps.

3)What's the Chromecast functionality like?

1. Not really sure as i haven't tried it myself but if you have an android device its exactly the same as using that (If your using the custom ROM for shield and not the default android TV ROM).

2. I never got the touch pad to work as far as i can remember, On the custom ROM you also need the controller plugged in or it wont work as no wireless drivers released yet.

PS3/PS4 controllers work with wireless (XBOX too i think).

I use droidmote to control mouse and keyboard from my phone which works really well (You can also plug devices into your device that's running droidmote and it will work as if its plugged into the shield itself).

3. I haven't tried it.

I haven't really delved much deeper into the device/OS at the moment as i bought it mainly as a powerful kodi / streamer / Emulation device which it does with ease so I'm quite happy (makes the fire tv look like a POS).

Jae-So · 9 Sep 2015 at 21:26

Yeh can't wait for the UK release. Perfect for streaming my PC games. Anyone know if you can use the XBone controllers with it?

Neil King · 12 Sep 2015 at 19:08

Really want to pick up a Nvidia Shield TV, where's the best place to pick one up from?

Can't find it on our rainforest.

Huntyz · 12 Sep 2015 at 19:26

I just kept checking rainforest UK till one day i saw one available which looks like i was lucky.

Could try ordering it from the US.

Neil King · 12 Sep 2015 at 19:55

Yes i went to US rainforest but its out of stock the 500GB Pro version with pricey import fees.

Be better if it's already in this country.

BMox81 · 14 Sep 2015 at 10:28

I ordered the 16gb version from the US rainforest on Tuesday and it arrived on Friday.

Spent a bit of time on the Grid Beta and I was very impressed - little to no lag playing the likes of Street Fighter x Tekken. Emulator aspect on this thing is amazing. Zelda on a 55"? Awesome.

Kodi looks and runs like a dream on this thing as well.

McManicMan · 15 Sep 2015 at 14:28

looks like there is a a recall of the Shield Pro now, faulty HDD's it seems

davisdavid · 17 Sep 2015 at 12:54

Sugnid said:
Concerning the adapter-did it have a UK one in there with it?

I didn't get an adapter, just use a travel plug. I have the 16Gb model

McManicMan said:
looks like there is a a recall of the Shield Pro now, faulty HDD's it seems

Seen this, they seem to be replacing the entire product as opposed to just the HDD.

I'm quite impressed with it to be fair, the Grid is good, though we'll see what it's like when the subscription comes in. Installed Kodi but not played around with it yet. Streaming from desktop is fine though a couple of games have issues with scaling and brightness, namely Witcher 3 (MGS phantom pain is brilliant when streamed to tv)

My main gripe is with the GeForce software on desktop, it always feels laggy and prine to crashing, even on the fully released version, don't even bother touching the betas for it anymore

BMox81 · 30 Sep 2015 at 22:40

2.0 Update arriving tomorrow:

http://nvidiashieldzone.com/index.p...subscription-as-geforce-now-ota-2-0-and-more/

davisdavid · 1 Oct 2015 at 20:02

Anyone else taking the plunge now it's out in the UK? it's quite well priced in my opinion, think I paid a little more than it's retailing for in the UK, I didn't get the remote, only the controller. Going to try the new update out tonight.