NV Shield as a Game Console

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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I have never been a personal fan of the NVIDIA Shield, so I gave my kids the unit I had acquired to see how it would go over with them. Both my kids (14 and 16) are big PC gamers, so I thought they would be perfect for seeing how it was accepted since it was not my cup of tea. They used it for about a week, put it down, and never picked it up again. Fast forward to today, Jared Newman of PC World decided to see how the Sheild held up as a game console. Does not get exactly a shining endorsement over there either.

The Shield isn’t completely devoid of mainstream fare, either. It’s powerful enough to handle some games from the previous console generation, including Borderlands 2, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Portal, Half-Life 2, and Resident Evil: 5. Unfortunately, there aren’t many of these games, and their visual quality doesn’t quite hold up to their original console versions. If your primary goal is to revel in last-gen gaming, consider picking up an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 on the cheap.
 
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I kept thinking about buying but I couldn't come up with a solid excuse. It doesn't play anything I care about.
 
I replaced my xbox 360s w/WMC Extender with this running Kodi... It's *THE* best Media streamer that I can game on - using my 1070 Gtx also ;)
 
They make great Kodi/Plex clients, although there are much cheaper solutions out there.. That's about the only thing i use mine for.
 
use mine alot, kodi/spmc emus of and streaming my steam libary my kids like it as well. drawback for them was the orignal pad which they have rectified.

one thing i wish we could do was stream vive content to it. i got more moving space in my living room than my home office
 
I thought about getting one to assist in cutting the cable cord. It looks like it can do some cool stuff. If I got it, I'd probably just use it for sling tv and game streaming on the projector.
 
The shield portable was the gaming one in my opinion, there are plenty more options for gaming on the TV compared to a 720p handheld with a full 360 controller built in that can emulate a ton of things from the go not to mention stream steam and origin. Play my shield portable all the time, and with a $30 steam link and every console already there's no gap the shield tv can fill for me
 
i've never played native android games on mine.. mainly use it for movie streaming through plex and geforce streaming, along with emulation, and 4k netflix. I never thought of it as a gaming console.. mainly a media console that could play games.
 
The new version has you pay 100 frigging dollars for a microSD slot.
And the old one (which I used to own) constantly became de-synced from the controller.

F that.
 
I did get Half Life 2 on the portable, just because it's a great game. That and a few ports like GTA and minecraft, but other then that it's like magnetik says, just on the go. I can hook it to the TV if need but have honestly never done that since I bought the cable just to try it. Option is there I guess if needed. It's a shame FF Tactics for android doesn't support the built in controller because I would play the shit out of that, but the PSP version or PS1 version being emulated is a close second
 
I think for 2017 the concept of the console is dead. I would be in favor of services like Steam, GoG, and Origin, and we know Nvidia has Grid. Consoles are anti-consumer, unlike PC and Android. As much as people want to tell me this and that about console gaming, just no. You have no good reason to play games on a console. And Nvidia shouldn't be trying to make a service which locks users to their hardware and service. Not that this isn't anything new for Nvidia, but you'd think they'd stick to hardware and let Steam or GoG handle the software side of things.

I was for the OUYA when it was out, but that was poorly executed. As a smart consumer if I bought a Shield TV it would be for Kodi and emulators, cause that's exactly what I would do with the OUYA. But I wouldn't pay $200 for such a thing. There's no appeal to the library of games they have. We're talking about games made nearly 10 years ago, or a limited selection of indie games. According to the article it's not even as good as the Xbox 360 in performance, which makes me wonder about the Nintendo Switch. For things like Kodi and emulators, I can buy devices like Generic Android Box for $40. Hook up a PS3 gamepad via bluetooth and you've got the same thing.

$200 is little cheaper than a Xbox One or PS4 but not really worth it. And if I really wanted a solution for my TV for $200, I could put together a relatively cheap PC but far more capable than a Shield TV device.

 
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The shield TV is can meet or even beat any of the previous gen consoles. But unfortunately developers don't care to optimize for it. So while doom3 and borderlands look and play great, others like RE5 look and perform worse than the xbox360.

I've never experienced any lag when using Game Stream on a tethered connection, and only minimal lag when using geforce now. Doesn't seem to affect gameplay at all.

Plus its an emulator's dream. I still have a large library of PS1, PSP and C-64 games that I now play on the shield. The thing can even run GameCube and some Wii games.
 
Stoly said:
Plus its an emulator's dream. I still have a large library of PS1, PSP and C-64 games that I now play on the shield. The thing can even run GameCube and some Wii games.
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This is the main reason I'm consider getting one. I already have a Shield controller from my Shield Tablet and it's awesome for emulators or any other controller enabled Android games on it. I already have all the consoles to play the bigger titles on, so that's not its appeal for me. I think most people just buy these for native 4K support for streaming media and for how well it's supported by Nvidia. The GPU power is just a plus for some of the others interested in some light gaming as well.
 
As much as I hate Nvidia (because of their love for lockdown techs and actions), the Shield has a couple of good points.

Is one of the few devices that is white listed by netflix for 4K.
can be a plex server.
Kodi runs flawless on it without the need of rooting or anything like that.
Same for lots of emulators.
Amazon video.

The new version removed the sd slot, but now comes with a free remote, which was 50.

I dont need one and I am actively trying to avoid their products, but as a htpc, it is a great product.
 
grtitan said:
Is one of the few devices that is white listed by netflix for 4K.
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I have problems with NetFlix and their 4k nonsense. On PC you can't do 4k unless it's on Edge, and Edge is a piece of shit. Oh and it needs Kaby Lake CPUs as well I believe? This is about who sucks Netflix's dick, and Nvidia is polishing that nicely along with Microsoft.
can be a plex server.
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So can the Raspberry Pi and it's $35-$50. I run Plex and Emby on my Linux machine, but I have Terrabytes of storage for my videos. I would imagine the Nvidia Shield will be limited in storage since media is read-only . Plus Transcoding will be limited since it can't do VC-1, Xvid, VP9 via acceleration. Issues you don't have with a cheap Raspberry Pi plus codec licenses.
Kodi runs flawless on it without the need of rooting or anything like that.
Same for lots of emulators.
Amazon video.
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I would hope so cause otherwise it wouldn't be a very good Android device.
The new version removed the sd slot, but now comes with a free remote, which was 50.
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Remotes are cheap and plentiful. SD card slots are not.
I dont need one and I am actively trying to avoid their products, but as a htpc, it is a great product.
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It's a great HTPC if someone gave you a Shield TV. Otherwise it's best used for emulators and and there's competition with cheaper products that'll do the job. I wouldn't go so far as hosting Plex on it, due to it's limitations though.
 
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I just bought a Shield TV and I love it. It offers 4K streaming, Amazon Video, Kodi/SMBC, emulators galore, excellent Google ecosystem integration and streaming PC games to my TV.
 
I got the SHIELD in 2015 shortly after initial release (came from an ADT-1 Android TV box; and Chromecast before that). The SHIELD is my main STB (paired with HDHR tuner, it also does Live TV for me, not just streaming apps). It's also how I play all my PC games now (sans-FPS games, which I still play at the actual computer w/ m&kb) via Gamestream and a wireless Xbox 360 controller. I'm a very happy customer :)
 
I have to say that I love my Shield TV. I also have to admit that I didn't really get it for gaming. What got my attention was that it would allow me to...

1. Upgrade/replace my Roku to a 4K streaming device (If I had just gotten the 4K Roku it would have been $140)
2. Upgrade/replace my Kodi box (I use a Chromebox flashed with Kodi for about $150)
3. Add Google Home which supports home automation (I think Google Home device is $140)
4. Remove an additional Bluetooth transmitter from my TV (Transmitter was $20)

Plus it adds the ability to do some gaming thrown in. For example, I have KoToR for Android. It was just a no brainer. I save $230 bucks and get all this usability. I would highly recommend it just for it's non-gaming merits. Hopefully the gaming part will improve with updates.
 
DukenukemX said:
I have problems with NetFlix and their 4k nonsense. On PC you can't do 4k unless it's on Edge, and Edge is a piece of shit. Oh and it needs Kaby Lake CPUs as well I believe? This is about who sucks Netflix's dick, and Nvidia is polishing that nicely along with Microsoft.
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Edge is the only browser that supports the codecs required for 4K Netflix playback and Kaby Lake is the only desktop CPU with the required hardware DRM. Blame the movie studios for that crap, they're the ones enforcing all this DRM stuff.
 
Derangel said:
Edge is the only browser that supports the codecs required for 4K Netflix playback and Kaby Lake is the only desktop CPU with the required hardware DRM. Blame the movie studios for that crap, they're the ones enforcing all this DRM stuff.
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From what I've read, the reason is because Kaby Lake supports 10-bit HEVC decoding. And last I checked both Nvidia and AMD's newest graphic cards support 10-bit HEVC decoding, but they're not included. I imagine the reason why Shield can do Netflix 4k is because of 10-bit HEVC decoding is on Tegra? It's a lot of loop holes just to increase the pixel count on your display. The adoption of 4k is slow as it is, do we really need these unrealistic requirements to make it harder? Honestly pirates will have 4k content that doesn't require this bullshit.

What this means is that after a while Netflix 4k will be irrelevant cause less people have the hardware needed and therefore less 4k content will be developed. If I were Netflix I would rethink this DRM bullshit, but then again I think most people are fine with 720p.
 
DukenukemX said:
From what I've read, the reason is because Kaby Lake supports 10-bit HEVC decoding. And last I checked both Nvidia and AMD's newest graphic cards support 10-bit HEVC decoding, but they're not included. I imagine the reason why Shield can do Netflix 4k is because of 10-bit HEVC decoding is on Tegra? It's a lot of loop holes just to increase the pixel count on your display. The adoption of 4k is slow as it is, do we really need these unrealistic requirements to make it harder? Honestly pirates will have 4k content that doesn't require this bullshit.

What this means is that after a while Netflix 4k will be irrelevant cause less people have the hardware needed and therefore less 4k content will be developed. If I were Netflix I would rethink this DRM bullshit, but then again I think most people are fine with 720p.
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Yeah, it's all super dumb. Though Netfix doesn't have a choice. It's use the DRM bs or don't support 4K. Not that 4K is really worth it on a streaming service due to the bitrate. They might as well just make it high bitrate 1080p instead.
 
I am in the got Shield TV and loving it so far camp... Though as others have said its a great media streamer first and games player second.
 
brentsg said:
How is the Shield for streaming games via Nvidia GPU?
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Awesome. Like I said, I play all my non-FPS games now on the SHIELD via Gamestream from the comfort of my couch.
 
brentsg said:
Am I correct in thinking I can't stream 4k to a TV if I'm using 1440 on the desktop?
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You can. You just need to create a custom resolution for 4k in the Nvidia Control Panel. Then you'll be able to set the games to 4k in their settings.

My computer monitor is only 1680x1050 :eek::dead: and I play at 1080p on the TV this way.
 
brentsg said:
How is the Shield for streaming games via Nvidia GPU?
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I use mine occasionally for titles like Rocket LEague and Dark Souls (games I play with a controller), and have never had any issues out of it. It always runs smooth over my 5 GHz wifi, never dropping frames, no noticeable input lag, etc. I highly recommend it. I've not tried it with a wireless KB & M however.

Overall, paired with my GameSir G4S, I'm very happy with it. Though, as many others have said, mine is primarily a media device, and a gaming device second.
 
I've been at odds with this device since I got it about 17 months ago. It does so many things I'm interested in and use daily - but in no way does it excel at any of these things.

As a STB it's passable - YouTube and Netflix are built-in natively, with support for Plex (as a client, I mention server below) and other applications (Kodi and Hulu/CBS/Fox/whatever). And you can Chromecast to make up the difference. 2017 adds Amazon Prime video, but it's a pretty weak 1.0 offering (really, searching and UI is awful) so I very well may go back to using Amazon Prime on a phone/tablet and casting it. My gripes with this aspect of the Shield TV's capabilities are more gripes with Android TV overall.

As a game streaming device it's more-or-less okay, there's that requirement of an Nvidia GPU as well as the GFE application running on your PC. Lag and image compression are acceptable but not great, and you have to put up with a lot of compromises (the controller does not have force feedback, etc.). Not every game works is my biggest warning here - even if you can load up Steam big picture, compatibility is not guaranteed.

As a game streaming service device - I tested out GeForce NOW when they had the free trials and it was... okay at best. I have a fast internet connection but didn't feel like I was ever truly having a seamless experience. Not to mention the library available hasn't gotten much better or worse.

As a native Android game device - again, free trials and whatnot, it's fine, the library is weak, there are some games that do well, some that don't.

As a Plex server it's finicky because it will take a lot of effort to get a working NAS connection up, as well as workaround the severe limitations of Android adoptive storage (I have the 16GB model). But, my experience is nowhere near the level of most users, and I warn anyone going down this road that it is not easy.

All in all, the experience has been mixed. It's a powerful device in a small form factor, and what it can do is ambitious - but no single aspect of the device is perfect.
 
The living room HTPC is dead. The Shield is a rock solid powerhouse in a cute little package that just works. Everything is beautiful and slick. Kodi flawless. Plentiful apps if you want them, including things like Spotify, Youtube, Netflix. Light to medium gaming is possible. Well supported emulator scene that works out of the box. Works well with Harmony and other remotes. Game streaming from your main PC rig. What's not to like?!
 
For usage as a streaming device (both gaming and video), the base model is fine right? There's nothing the more expensive one carries other than app storage?
 
brentsg said:
For usage as a streaming device (both gaming and video), the base model is fine right? There's nothing the more expensive one carries other than app storage?
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Yes - storage and Pro also comes with IR receiver on the unit.
 
brentsg said:
I should probably be off reading reviews, but if I want to use this with a Logitech remote I need the Pro for IR?
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If you have a Harmony Smart Hub you're golden as it uses Bluetooth which can communicate very well with the base model Shield. If you have something like Harmony 650 then you're gonna need either the Pro or simply get a USB IR receiver for the base model (like a FLIRC).
 
Stoly said:
Actually the controller does have 2 spin motors for force feedback, but its not enabled. So maybe in a future update.
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Yes that's what I meant; they did enable force feedback in the GeForce Now games, but it's not available in streaming from your PC.
 
Wow, so much crying in this thread.

1-The Shield TV is NOT a console. Please don't compare it to a console. It's an Android TV device that can play games better than other Android TV devices.
2-Don't compare the Shield TV with a $40 Chinese box. They are not even in the same league.
3-Super long support from nVidia. I've had the original Shield TV and to this day I'm getting new software, abilities, full OS upgrades, etc. Same with the Shield Tablet. Just got the new OS on my OG Shield Tablet. Awesome.
4-Stream PC games to your Shield TV if you have a nVidia graphics card. Works great. Better than those Steam boxes.
5-True 4K support. HDMI 2.0 4K@60fps, etc.
6-Google Play Store, 4K Netflix and 4K Amazon Prime Video ON THE SAME DEVICE. There are no devices that does this (without rooting or hackery)..
7-Plays ANY file. Big 4K video files, mkvs with subtitles, weird file formats, etc. It has the power to do it.
8-I have console emulators running on mine, NEs, SNES, GBA, Playstation,, they all run great.

Cons:
1-Expensive. If it was $150 or lower with remote it would be a better deal.
2-Small internal storage. Plug in your own USB3 drive, problem solved.
 
So to sum up, if any of the below fit into your use case:

Apple TV, Roku, Chomecast, Any Smart TV OS (including other Android TVs), Steam Link, RasPi < Nvidia SHIELD TV (it's the best version of all and/or any of those, in one singular device)
 
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