NVIDIA started selling a new version of its Shield TV box earlier this month. But while the new model is 40 percent smaller than the version that launched in 2015 it has the same basic hardware. The key differences are a game controller with a microphone that’s always listening for voice commands and newer software.
Actually, scratch that second one… because an update that rolls out today brings the new software to the older model.
That means the original Shield TV can do pretty much everything the new model can… assuming you buy a new game controller or an NVIDIA Spot accessory to get the always-listening support.
The Shield TV Software Upgrade 5.0 brings a new Amazon Video app with support for 4K HDR streaming, as well as 4K content from Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies, and Vudu.
Since the latest software is based on Android TV 7.0, it also brings a new picture-in-picture mode that allows you to keep watching a video while browsing for other content.
Other updates include an updated settings menu and support for double-pressing the home button to view recent apps.
NVIDIA is also adding some new NVIDIA Shield-exclusive games and the GeForce NOW game streaming service has been upgraded to let you stream games with graphics performance up to a GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card.
One feature that’s not ready to go yet is support for Google Assistant. But NVIDIA says that’s coming soon to both the original Shield console and the new 2017 model.
Leave a Reply
I think this is a screenshot of the Amazon Fire TV interface!… I think you got a bit confused with your boxes there!… LOL
I think that’s a screen shot of the Amazon app itself. Though the new Fire TV interface is a direct rip of Android TV. Not surprising since Fire OS is Android based.
No, that’s a screenshot of the Shield Amazon app.
I bought the Shield TV around Black Friday 2015. I have to say I’ve never been happier with after-sale support than with Nvidia and this product. They actively listened to what users wanted and supplied it within reason. They’ve worked closely with third parties as well to bring unique capabilities. They’ve also been good about updates in general. I believe it was running some version of Android 4 or 5 when I first got it.The new update makes it all run much smoother. Or so a couple hours use seems. The one update I dislike is the new Settings menu. It looks nicer but effectively trades a grid setup for a single column so items at the end of the list take many more button presses to get to. Unless there is some other update coming which makes use of the dead space then they have purely traded usability for… Read more »
Since the update I can’t play any games on GeForce Now. I’m having high packet loss and the games are glitchy even when I use wired connection.
Anybody else experiencing the same issues?
Any idea how to downgrade to the previous version that used to work fine?
Not sure if there is a simpler way to roll back, but the worst-case scenario is you back up your data and do a factory reset or manually flash the nvidia recovery image you want. I’ve had bad luck with OS updates from Windows and Android over the years and have heard plenty of complaints of Android OTA updates. I’ve done manual image flashing on my Shield tablet a few times. If I had the Shield TV, I’d first try to flash the new version of the software to see if the problem is the software itself or if the update got screwed up somehow.