Nvidia Shield (2017-?)

[HooHaa]

2 hours ago, SooKee said:

I might have confused this. Are you in the PI and ordered from Lazada PI by default or are you in Thailand? I'm guessing I read your post wrong and thought you were in Thailand. I thought the delivery was damn fast.

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Apologies i bounce between phils for work and thailand for life. 

 

The mi was ordered via lazada philipines, and delivered next day.

 

I cant say it has been a pleasant experience. It does not like my dlink router, wifi connectivity is buggy, i had to break out an old router before it saw a connection, it then updated itself killing all sound and needed a factory reset. Finally, spotify tv. Version is useless and limited to medium quality. Spotfy full android version would not sideload. Soundclound, no sideload. Finally i forgot about androids insistence that 15 steps between no sound and full volume is adequate. Again without root, unfixable precise volume would not sideload. 

 

It has  been factory reset, and i know who is getting it for christmas.

 

Its looking like the sheild with a 200 dollar dac. 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2017 by HooHaa

[SooKee]

Apologies i bounce between phils for work and thailand for life.    The mi was ordered via lazada philipines, and delivered next day.  

I cant say it has been a pleasant experience. It does not like my dlink router, wifi connectivity is buggy, i had to break out an old router before it saw a connection, it then updated itself killing all sound and needed a factory reset. Finally, spotify tv. Version is useless and limited to medium quality. Spotfy full android version would not sideload. Soundclound, no sideload. Finally i forgot about androids insistence that 15 steps between no sound and full volume is adequate. Again without root, unfixable precise volume would not sideload. 

 

It has  been factory reset, and i know who is getting it for christmas.

 

Its looking like the sheild with a 200 dollar dac. 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow. Not lucky.  Strange on the WiFi front. I find mine performs better than any device I've tried with the exception of the Shield. I recently got a new router though so hopefully instances of device rejection will be eliminated for me.  

 

 

 

Very odd about the reset problems you've had too? Set mine up from fresh using the phone and no problem. System apps all updated and everything fine.

 

Yeah the ATV Spotify app is limited to 320 kbps. Not a problem for me as I only listen to it through the TV or sound bar. Must admit I really like the Spotify integration with the phone app. I can pick up the phone, play a track, select the Shield as a playback device and it'll power up the Shield and the Shield's CEC will power up the sound bar, leaving the TV off. Same result with the Mi and the TV in the bedroom.

 

Bad luck. But you really shouldn't be having all those set up problems.

 

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[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 minutes ago, HooHaa said:

Finally, spotify tv. Version is useless and limited to medium quality. Spotfy full android version would not sideload.

 

Are you trying to use it with a Spotify Premium (paid) or regular-free Spotify account?

 

On my Mi Box, the free Spotify app works just fine. But there's no sound quality setting, meaning not high bitrate. I'm guessing that would change for a Premium account???

 

 

[SooKee]

Five bickering and off topic posts have been removed.

Is it worth / possible to carve out the significant amount of Mi box posts here into the Mi Box thread? Either that or rename the thread to "Nvidia Shield TV (2017) / Xiaomi Mi Box".

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[HooHaa]

9 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Are you trying to use it with a Spotify Premium (paid) or regular-free Spotify account?

 

On my Mi Box, the free Spotify app works just fine. But there's no sound quality setting, meaning not high bitrate. I'm guessing that would change for a Premium account???

 

 

I have premium. It should be just a matter of logging in. But the options arent there. Bitrate option is greyed out in mobile app, tv app doesnt even have a settings tab.

 

However it is lacking so much functionality it just isnt worth it. 

 

No library sort options, no view by artist etc etc.

 

Anyways maybe ill give setting it up another try, but it should not have been that difficult. It also hated the minix mouse, i suspect that was affecting audio before first reset. 

 

Anyways sorry to derail the thread, moving posts wouldnt be a bad idea....

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

This thread linked below isn't exactly a general purpose Mi Box thread (i'm not sure one exists), but overall Mi Box discussion certainly could continue here instead:

 

 

[amvet]

37 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Are you trying to use it with a Spotify Premium (paid) or regular-free Spotify account?

 

On my Mi Box, the free Spotify app works just fine. But there's no sound quality setting, meaning not high bitrate. I'm guessing that would change for a Premium account???

I use Deezer on my phone and TV because I can set the quality playback and download.  I've used Spotify but I like Deezer better.

[SooKee]

I have premium. It should be just a matter of logging in. But the options arent there. Bitrate option is greyed out in mobile app, tv app doesnt even have a settings tab.  

However it is lacking so much functionality it just isnt worth it. 

 

No library sort options, no view by artist etc etc.

 

Anyways maybe ill give setting it up another try, but it should not have been that difficult. It also hated the minix mouse, i suspect that was affecting audio before first reset. 

 

Anyways sorry to derail the thread, moving posts wouldnt be a bad idea....

 

 

 

Which Minix mouse is it? There is a known issue when using the microphone enabled A3 and even worse with the A2 where they hijack the sound of other boxes. The A2 Lite is the one that works without problem. The A3 is less problematic than the A2 and it was suggested a change in Android 6 fixed the problem that some mic enabled remotes have. Not sure if that's the case BUT I'm using my A3 with my Mi at the moment and no problem at all. The A2 though is a definite AVOID. That's the A2, not A2 Lite.  

 

 

Yeah the ATV apps tend to be a bit lighter. Mostly as they are designed for TV use with limited options for remote input. The Devs are only just waking up to the fact that other devices use the ATV UI, not just TVs. I have an open dialogue with about 6 app developers now, including Spotify, to see what can be done to improve the apps. HooQ has already switched to full ATV version with full control.

 

Problem with Spotify for me is that you can't add a song to a play list from it. Actually now I use the app just as the receiver for what I select and manage from my phone. So I just reach for the phone instead of the remote. With the Shield of course I just say "Play X on Spotify" and it does [emoji4]. Funnily because I use the phone pretty much as the Spotify control I never even noticed the lack of artist category. You can search for artist by the search bar but I still find the phone UI better.

 

 

The radio apps are even worse. Tune In and My Tuner you can't even log in to access favourites. At least with My Tuner you can add favourites on a per device basis. Makes Tune In totally useless IMO. One of the other developers I'm in dialogue with.

 

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[TallGuyJohninBKK]

10 minutes ago, SooKee said:

The radio apps are even worse. Tune In and My Tuner you can't even log in to access favourites. At least with My Tuner you can add favourites on a per device basis. Makes Tune In totally useless IMO. One of the other developers I'm in dialogue with.
 

 

I agree about the TuneIn app on the Android TV/Mi Box being pretty crippled -- no sign in, no account specific content, no saved favorites, etc etc.  Why Tune In posted an app like that, I can't begin to fathom.

 

FWIW, the TuneIn app on the Fire TV, in contrast, has all those features missing from the TuneIn Android TV app.. Works quite well...

 

Edited October 31, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[SooKee]

  I agree about the TuneIn app on the Android TV/Mi Box being pretty crippled -- no sign in, no account specific content, no saved favorites, etc etc.  Why Tune In posted an app like that, I can't begin to fathom.  

FWIW, the TuneIn app on the Fire TV, in contrast, has all those features missing from the TuneIn Android TV app.. Works quite well...

 

 

 

Yep. Beyond bizarre. Tune In is useless on ATV. I actually noticed the one day I could sign in on the Fire and thought they'd updated it across all devices. Wrong. Crazy seeing as they CAN do it as the FTV shows.  

 

 

I've switched to using My Tuner across all devices. Still no log in. But you CAN at least save favourites. I do find that the streams take a few seconds longer to load on My Tuner than Tune In but still quicker than the good awful nightmare of navigating to a channel via Tune In, unless it just HAPPENS to show up on the home screen as a result of your preferred country setting. Definite plus for the FTV in that regard. I've deleted Tune In from everything in disgust 555.  

 

 

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[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, for U.S.-oriented folks, I got an email from Google today announcing that they're releasing a Shield TV/Android TV app for their YouTube TV service, an over-the-top (streaming) U.S. cable TV service that costs $35-a-month and requires U.S. geolocation.

 

I checked the Google Play Store on my Android TV/Mi Box just now, and the app still isn't showing up as yet. But Google mentioned they're going to be rolling it out over the next several days.  Whether the app will run specifically on the Mi Box I don't know, as Google didn't make any specific mention of that device, just talked about Android TV devices including the Shield and TVs with Android TV built-in...

 

Also, how the app will respond to the required geolocation issues, I don't know until I've had a chance to try it.

 

Quote

So today we’re excited to unveil the new YouTube TV app built for TV devices. In the next few days, you’ll be able to stream live TV through the new YouTube TV app on Android TV devices including NVIDIA SHIELD and TVs with Android TV built-in, such as Sony, as well as on the Xbox One family of devices (Xbox One, Xbox One S, and soon Xbox One X).

 

Up until now, anyone wanting to view the YouTube TV service on the big screen needed to either play it from an attached device like a PC via HDMI where the service would run in the Chrome browser, or send it from a mobile device via Chromecast or Apple AirPlay.  So this new Android TV app is their first foray into TV and streaming box-based apps for the service, which seems kind of odd given the service is a TV service....

 

At any rate:

 

https://youtube.googleblog.com/2017/10/lean-back-and-watch-youtube-tv-with-new.html

And from their email:

 

Quote

 

This week...

Xbox One

Xbox One S

Android TVs (Including NVIDIA SHIELD and TVs with Android TV built-in, such as Sony)

 

Coming soon....

Xbox One X

Apple TV

LG

Samsung

Sony

 

Stay tuned--we’re working to add more devices very soon!

 

 

[SooKee]

Just a quick point regarding making your own lean-back apks to get side-loaded apps to have a 'professional' looking icon that shows up on an Android TV based device.  Up until not so long back many apps were developed with two (or more) specific apks.  One for the Android Mobile version and one for Android TV.  Now, more and more apps are being adapted to be Android TV friendly (of the apps I use iFlix and HooQ are two of the most notable - and most welcomed) AND some developers are moving towards smart apks that configure correctly for the device they get installed on.  Install it on a mobile phone or generic Android box and you get the mobile version, install on an ATV based device and you get the TV UI.

 

One consequence of this is that if one of your apps gets converted to the ATV format and that developer also deploys a smart apk to the store, if you have already installed a lean-back apk for that app you will more than likely see 2 icons for your app.  The now ATV compliant app icon for your app AND the lean-back you created. Both will work.  Of course few people will want both.  Then it will be a simple case of going to the app manager in Settings and deleting your lean-back.  In the 'App Manager' you will see both apks next to each other.  One, the full app, will be measured in Mb size; the lean back, a much smaller apk seeing as it's just a link, in kb.  You just need to delete the smaller one.  For this reason, the few lean back apks I now have installed I give the app name suffixed with '(LB)' when creating it using the creation tool, just so it's immediately obvious which to delete, it's the Android system names that need to match in the creation tool for the lean-back to work, the 'App Name' can be whatever you want.

 

Even if you're side loading it's worthwhile checking whether the app icon shows up in the device before you spend time creating a lean back.  As an example, when iFlix converted to smart apk / ATV compatible format the icon showed up in the Fire TV when I installed it, it would have anyway, but in this case you get the full size full colour icon, not a grey box where the device is taking the graphic from the apk icon (if that's clear).

 

One downside to the smart apks is that if you use a generic box you can no longer select which apk to install, the mobile or the ATV version.  In most cases I used to opt for the ATV version as when I'm watching TV or listening to music I prefer the ease of navigation with an ATV remote rather than flailing around like a drunken monkey trying to navigate with an air-mouse. Now, you can't, it will configure itself depending the device you install it on.  No problem for me now as I don't use generic boxes but it's something to bear in mind.

Edited November 1, 2017 by SooKee

[Pib]

Me ordered a Nvidia Shield....Bt9,900 from ThaiNexusMan....suppose to get it Friday via EMS.

 

The Shield box is really overkill for my current needs but it's such an awesome box which will continue to receive firmware/app support from Nvidia for years.   While boxes like the Mi 3 and my current AIS Playboxes would/have met my current day needs, my needs & desires seem to continue to grow and I decided I wanted a top tier box to hopefully avoid many of the limitations that seem to come with some lower tier boxes.    Plus, it's Christmas in a few months....I'll just consider the Shield my early Christmas present.    Hopefully between the Shield and my AIS Playboxes I'll be satisfied for while for Android boxes.

 

[SooKee]

Great Xmas present, I'd be surprised if you weren't really impressed with the Shield.  Outstanding box IMO, leaves everything else for dead.

[scubascuba3]

Great Xmas present, I'd be surprised if you weren't really impressed with the Shield.  Outstanding box IMO, leaves everything else for dead.

But if you don't want to play games it's over the top isn't it?

[SooKee]

25 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

1 hour ago, SooKee said:

Great Xmas present, I'd be surprised if you weren't really impressed with the Shield.  Outstanding box IMO, leaves everything else for dead.

But if you don't want to play games it's over the top isn't it?

I have zero interest in playing games, many of the users on the Shield forums don't either.  I bought the Shield for:

 

• It's sheer processing power and speed
• Regular updates (Android 7 not, shortly to move to 8)
• Up to 4K Netflix & Amazon Prime Video
• HD iFlix and HooQ (much of the content of the latter two being HD already with back catalogue conversion ongoing).
• It's functionality with its remotes, Google Assistant, universal search, OK Google and such like (including the Always On / Listening voice control)
• Built in Google cast
• HDMI 2.0 + 2 x USB 3.0 ports
• 802.11 AC wifi
• Pass-through of 5.1 and 7.1 audio alongside Dolby Digital (AC3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3), DTS-HD, DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS-X and DTS Core Audio Streams.  
• Smart Home integration
• Support

 

So for me, no, it's not over the top at all.  For others it might.  Up to them  

Edited November 2, 2017 by SooKee

[touch]

Does the Shield decode these " Dolby Digital (AC3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3), DTS-HD, DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS-X and DTS Core Audio Stream " or is it only passthrough?

[Pib]

The specs say "passthrough."

 

[touch]

That's disappointing. For 10k I'd like actual decoding in the device. 

[Pib]

Got the Shield late this afternoon...fired it up for the first time around 7pm.  It's up and running.   It comes with Android Nougat 7.   I first thing it did during the first startup was to to make an internet connect via Wifi (I can tell its Wifi is excellent) and it checked for updates....it found an update to its main Android TV Nvidia interface...downloaded a 0.96GB size filed and then restarted/rebooted into the Green Robot screen for several minutes...that all went well.  It also said it found an update to the remote (which is great) and asked if I want to install it now...I said yes...it did so...all went well.

 

Played with some of the core settings a little...and spent some time playing some Youtube videos...the videos start-up super fast and the picture is great.   Will let it burn in overnight and sometime late Saturday start playing with it more.  I be happy so far.

 

 

 

 

 

[Phuket Man]

Just ordered my Shield from Thai Nexus Man (Lazada)

Nice to have everything in one box.

To be honest I was rather disappointed that it does not have an Optical Out for that price.

Hoping to get round it by using this.

https://www.lazada.co.th/hdmi-to-hdmi-with-audio-optical-51-lr-converter-24890444.html?spm=a2o4m.other.0.0.4249675f4vsOxJ

[SooKee]

Just in case anyone else using Spotify experiences this problem. The latest Spotify updates to their apps on both Android TV (1.5.3) and mobile phone platforms created the following problems for me:

 

1) Playing tracks from a playlist would almost inevitably eventually (like after 5-10 minutes) result at some stage in audio cutting as the app moved from playing one song to the next in the queue. The song would look like it was playing but there was no sound.

 

2) Frequent split second loss of sound in tracks, as if the device was intermittently cutting out

 

3) Frequent (wrong) screen messages saying "You're offline, please connect to the internet"

 

4) Remote navigating between tracks within playlists becoming unresponsive as if the app had stalled on the device and / or become disconnected.

 

No manner of clearing app data, cache, re-installing or restarting the device (in short, everything you'd normally try with an app that's playing up) would fix it. All in all I found it a REALLY buggy update and a real PITA to use.

 

I have been in discussion with Spotify over the issue today and they say they are looking into it. Meanwhile I have downgraded the Spotify ATV app to v 1.4.0 by side loading the apk and the problems have gone away. So it seems like there is a glitch in their current app version. I have temporarily disabled app auto updating in the Play Store so it doesn't push me back to 1.5.3. 

Edited November 8, 2017 by SooKee

[SooKee]

Further to above. Pretty confident this IS a Spotify (buggy) app issue. I also have a Xiaomi Mi Box 3 in the bedroom as it doesn't get used enough to justify another Shield in there, being largely a Netflix / YouTube player.

Exact same problems running the ATV 1.5.3 version of the app on the Mi too. Roll back to 1.4 and again, no more problems.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

Quote

NVIDIA Shield TV (2017) w/ remote & controller is on sale for $169.99 — New Lowest Price Ever

The NVIDIA Shield TV is currently on sale for $169.99 on Amazon. This is the latest model that was released at the start of the year. It’s the package that includes both the remote control and game controller which normally sells for $199.99. This sale is the lowest price that the Shield TV has ever been. There have only been two other sales that I know of and they were both $10 more than this current sale price. The $179.99 package without the game controller and the $299.99 Pro model that includes a large hard drive are not on sale. The Shield TV is a very capable gaming and streaming device that runs Android TV and is a great alternative to the Fire TV if you’re looking to do things beyond basic content streaming, like running a Plex server on it or using it as an OTA recorder.

 

http://www.aftvnews.com/nvidia-shield-tv-2017-w-remote-controller-is-on-sale-for-169-99-new-lowest-price-ever/

[Daryle]

 

NVIDIA Shield TV (2017) w/ remote & controller is on sale for $169.99 — New Lowest Price Ever

The NVIDIA Shield TV is currently on sale for $169.99 on Amazon. This is the latest model that was released at the start of the year. It’s the package that includes both the remote control and game controller which normally sells for $199.99. This sale is the lowest price that the Shield TV has ever been. There have only been two other sales that I know of and they were both $10 more than this current sale price. The $179.99 package without the game controller and the $299.99 Pro model that includes a large hard drive are not on sale. The Shield TV is a very capable gaming and streaming device that runs Android TV and is a great alternative to the Fire TV if you’re looking to do things beyond basic content streaming, like running a Plex server on it or using it as an OTA recorder.

 
http://www.aftvnews.com/nvidia-shield-tv-2017-w-remote-controller-is-on-sale-for-169-99-new-lowest-price-ever/
This is the best bit of kit, I picked up in 2017. I payed around $200 on Amazon, at the start of the year. I cannot fault it, as it just handles everything with ease! I just added Zion (APK) to my setup and I recommend both the box and sideloading APK's on this box as they just load better (1080p no buffering issues) than straight Kodi - IMHO.

Sent from my SM-T530 using Tapatalk

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Quote

NVIDIA Shield TV on sale for $149 w/o controller & $169.99 w/ controller — Lowest Prices Ever

As part of Amazon’s Black Friday Sales that have just gone live are both packs of the NVIDIA Shield TV. If you don’t need a game controller, the NVIDIA Shield TV w/ remote is $149.00. This is the new package with only a remote that is normally $179 and this is the first time it has ever gone on sale. If you do want a game controller for not much more, the NVIDIA Shield TV w/ controller and remote is $169.99. That package is normally $199.99 and this sale price matches the lowest price it has ever been.

 

 

http://www.aftvnews.com/nvidia-shield-tv-on-sale-for-152-w-o-controller-169-99-w-controller-lowest-prices-ever/

Edited November 20, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[jphasia]

I have a Nvidia TV shield Pro since nearly 1 year now. I am very happy with it. However, i failed to find the way to connect an external hard drive on it since the beginning. I have trying several times during the first month, searching a solution on internet and finaly gave up. I am doing a lot of streaming, Netflix, Iflix...Plex. Great!
However, i tried again today to connect my external drive, a seagate 2tb and it work! I browse it with Kodi, Es Explorer. I managed to see the files and started to watch a serie from the drive. But it totally slow down the shield, make the apps unresponding, the launcher not responding. I even had to unplug the shield and restart it.
Any idea?

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[SooKee]

I have a Nvidia TV shield Pro since nearly 1 year now. I am very happy with it. However, i failed to find the way to connect an external hard drive on it since the beginning. I have trying several times during the first month, searching a solution on internet and finaly gave up. I am doing a lot of streaming, Netflix, Iflix...Plex. Great!
However, i tried again today to connect my external drive, a seagate 2tb and it work! I browse it with Kodi, Es Explorer. I managed to see the files and started to watch a serie from the drive. But it totally slow down the shield, make the apps unresponding, the launcher not responding. I even had to unplug the shield and restart it.
Any idea?

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

What type of connection is it? USB 3 or 2? What format is the drive in?

There are reports of varying performance with external drives. I now use a Samsung T3 SSD on mine with no problems. Previously used a Samsung Bar thumb drive but that died, I'm guessing down to the extreme heat that some of these drives seem to run at.

Sent using Tapatalk

[jphasia]

What type of connection is it? USB 3 or 2? What format is the drive in?

There are reports of varying performance with external drives. I now use a Samsung T3 SSD on mine with no problems. Previously used a Samsung Bar thumb drive but that died, I'm guessing down to the extreme heat that some of these drives seem to run at.

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Hello, USB 3 ex-fat.
Where can you find Samsung T3 SSD in Bangkok. I have looking for it but can't find it.

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[SooKee]

23 minutes ago, jphasia said:

Hello, USB 3 ex-fat.
Where can you find Samsung T3 SSD in Bangkok. I have looking for it but can't find it.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

Should be OK but drives vary a LOT.  Got mine through Lazada.  Friend of mine uses one of these also without problem:

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/wd-my-passport-256gb-ssd-usb-type-c-usb-30-external-ssdwdbk3e2560psl-i160585385-s193398893.html?spm=a2o4m.campaign.grid_container_2367.11.666a5813ASctHM