Nowadays, there are plenty of small tables for under your TV for sale: next to the usual suspects as the Apple TV or Roku there are dozens, if not hundreds, Android tables where you Netflix and other apps can run in order to make “dumb” TV smart . Most people who have such a thing are fine satisfied. So what inspires Nvidia, makers of graphics cards and other PC bullying, but to also put such a box in the market? Good question. The answer is twofold: 4K and gaming.
To start with the first: the Shield Android TV (like the cupboard is officially known) made by Nvidia is able to display 4K again without stuttering. At present this is the only box that can do this, thanks to the Tegra X1 processor. 8 pieces of 64-bit cores, assisted by a graphics processor with 256 cores, 3GB RAM and 16GB internal storage with an SD card slot if you want more. With the numbers behind which effectively means that the thing is a silly, which is damn fine. You do not have to wait if you use the Shield and that alone is quite unique in the Android world.
The advantage of Android is of course that it is very open. Quite a few apps that everybody would like to have (Netflix, Plex, YouTube, Twitch, basically anything that you would expect with the sole exception (yet) Spotify) are’re ready to download from the Google Play store and there, most people enough. You can, however, would you want with built-ES file manager all media for example, you are viewing on a home server and if you’re the type to other apps ‘sideload’ it can.
What you also put the navigation thanks to the already reported speed super smooth, but even if you are taking too long, you can always search by voice to what you want. Both can be activated with a press of a button voice control and simply (in Dutch) Find what you want to see using the standard controller supplied or purchased separately remote, hear or play. It continues to amaze me how well the voice recognition, and I’ve rarely seen that I finally looked for something I did not want.
And the included controller, which is not bad. I say it deliberately so, as compared with the ergonomic masterpieces you with a Playstation or Xbox get is’ ie just OK. It feels like a typical B-brand controller, albeit one that is not on Monday put together. He is solid, responds well and has all the buttons you need to play the games offered by the Shield. Extras are the volume button, the home button, a button that you immediately let out the voice search and – very welcome – 3.5 “headphone jack, you can use, for example, quietly in bed still something to watch on Netflix with no sound from the TV to gain or even just Tomb Raider play
About playing spoken. aside from the usual Google play games that you could possibly have taken note of your account you can have two different ways games play the Shield the first is quite simple.. Shield play Here you can simply buy games with your credit card for a fixed price, which you can then play Ready the Shield is as said not a dud in terms of power, so expect about a.. Xbox 360 / PS3 graphics quality. The offer is not bad, but do not think you can play anything. Nvidia said that they are constantly in talks with publishers, but not everyone does, and so are things like call of Duty, GTA V (the real) Minecraft or FIFA is not available.
Something is more interesting than the Geforce Now app, which games are not running locally on the Shield, but they are streaming from a more powerful PC, anywhere in the cloud. The image is then sent to you and what you do with your controller is sent to the other side, leaving you with a (surprisingly minimal) delay a game like The Witcher 3, Borderlands, Batman: Arkham Origins or even ultra Street Fighter IV or F1 2015 can play without having the feeling that you are trailing. The idea is that you sign a tenner a month and you can play a library of games with it. Coincidentally is a game like Witcher 3 not there in which you need to buy another loose on top of the subscription – if you get a Steam key there in case you ever want to leave the service.
The problem with services like this are twofold: they often do not work properly and supply is never great. The first problem is solved with Geforce Now, but the second is a real thing, the only games you have to play with your standard subscription or four years old or indie games that you will not know. If you are a very casual gamer is not a problem, but then you maybe do not want there to pay a monthly fee and certainly not as even older versions of the famous franchises are not available. Unfortunately, Nvidia has no app that uses their own Game Stream protocol, so for example, you have to stream 4K graphics of your fat PC to the shield, which would now be indeed very interesting for gamers, especially because the Shield as usual kinds of controllers , mice, keyboards and even arcade sticks accepts (Xbox version).
This makes the Android Shield TV a strange kind of exception: you would say that it is primarily should appeal to gamers, but they are often equipped with a console that does almost everything that this cabinet can. The people who do not really like gaming or only very occasionally want to play a game will again bales from the fact that the standard operation you when the device receives a controller instead of a remote control (for non-gamers love really no controllers, it turns out) and you really love about little else than the 4K support. Well, I would not erase that because that you see nowhere else, and so it is true that if you’re looking for something you can provisionally move forward and that is ready for you (possibly to buy yet) TV, this whole good choice.
The system is solid, the box itself is not striking enough to be ugly and the possibilities it offers (there is even Google Cast functionality) are legion. But who has been well not a smart TV box under a stupid TV or just be a console or micro-PC? Just that consumers would benefit from a very good Android set-top box, but I fear that they already have. Are you the type and do you have anything on this? Take it for sure with you in your considerations, because what it does, the Shield is doing fantastic. Now find someone who has the need.
Game and tech blogger and presenter on TV Limburg. Patrick is also the editor of Game Cowboys.
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