Nvidia Shield TV Pro Review
Still the best streaming box on the market
The new Nvidia Shield Pro doesn’t do much new but doesn't have to in order to remain the best streaming box and retro gaming machine out there. However, the lack of a bundled controller (while retaining the previous generation's price point) harms the deal overall.
GOOD
- A versatile and powerful streamer
- Chromecast built-in
- Great gaming features
BAD
- No longer ships with a controller
- No storage boost
- UI needs finessing
There are definitely a ton of cheap streaming devices to choose from. From Fire TV Cubes to Roku Streaming Stick, if you want to stream all the latest movies and shows without any hassle, you can do so without breaking the bank. But what if you're after a little more 'oomph' from your TV-serving gadgets?
Enter this version of Nvidia Shield TV Pro. An Android-powered set-top-box/game console is an impressively powerful streaming device and is packed with features that will entice both movie lovers and gamers alike.
Whether you're after high-spec PC gaming, streaming to your TV, or 4K movies in multiple HDR formats, it's got you covered. It offers less value for money than the previous models, however, despite the bump in specifications.
Nvidia Shield TV Pro price and availability
Nvidia Shield TV Pro is available for purchase now, priced at $199.99 (£199.99). This gives you access to the console, a new and improved remote control (which we'll discuss in detail soon), and 20 of the best (if aging) PC games that have been uploaded to the Internet as part of GeForce Now. can be streamed. Service, which you can extend with your purchase.
With better internal hardware and some new features that we'll get to in a second, this would be a great deal…
It offered a last-gen box, last-gen remote, and mic-packing Nvidia Shield controller, now sold separately, for roughly the same price. It's a better device than ever before, with more features and a more powerful processor, but it's hard to say that the latest Shield represents a better value than the first, even with the knowledge that no one has The PS4 or Xbox One gamepad will be paired with it.
Other than its bigger sibling, the Nvidia Shield TV Pro doesn't have much to compete with. The Amazon Fire TV Cube is capable, and cheap, just like a movie and TV streaming device, but it lacks the gaming chops the Shield TV Pro offers. If you have the money, the Shield TV is hard to beat.
Nvidia Shield TV Pro Design
The Nvidia Shield TV Pro is a small thing, considering the power it packs. Shaped like a thin wedge with some angular indentations, it's about the size of two Kindle e-readers stacked on top of each other. It will fit in the back pocket of your jeans in a pinch. Standing flat or tall (when placed in a sold-apart stand accessory), it will sit seamlessly with your other AV gear, it's 'on' position indicated by a neon green light bar, the intensity of which can be tweaked. Can be done if you find it a little girlish.
On the back, you'll find two USB 3.0 ports, a 4K HDR-compatible HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and a proprietary power port. Wi-Fi is built-in (802.11ac dual-band), as is Bluetooth 5.0 for connecting wireless accessories. However, the only cable included in the box is for power. You will need to supply your own HDMI (and USB if necessary) leads.
Under the hood is 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. RAM remains unchanged then, but we've seen other Shield models with up to 500GB of onboard storage, so a little more would have been appreciated here. Still, two USB ports make adding external storage a cinch, not to mention plugging in a wired controller or keyboard and mouse.
What's really changed is the processor - the first major upgrade in the Shield TV range since it was introduced in 2015. Here's the onboard Tegra X1+ processor—which offers a 25% performance boost over the retired Tegra X1, it belongs to the same family of chips currently powering the latest Nintendo Switch models, including the Nintendo Switch Lite.
The Shield TV family has never lagged behind in terms of performance, but adding the X1+ makes everything a little bit easier and also lets you add some new features onboard.
Nvidia Shield TV Pro Features and interface
If you've used an Android TV device before, you'll know what to expect from an Nvidia Shield TV. With a few small tweaks (mostly in terms of settings options) specific to the Shield TV Pro's features, it's pretty much the same thing as a Google-designed vanilla Android TV experience.
It provides rows of content based on your installed apps. The top row is an overview of your most regularly used apps, with rows featuring rich artwork and content recommendation snippets based on what the respective app has to offer. It can all be rearranged or hidden as you see fit.
Shield TV Pro, therefore, gives you access to all the major streaming services in their 4K/HDR configurations, from Netflix to Amazon Prime Video to BBC iPlayer and everything in between. There are also media server apps like Plex, a ton of Android TV games to try out (including some exclusive to The Shield and its mighty innards), and, for those happy to navigate the potential pitfalls, a slew of retro gaming emulators. To tinker with the host.
Keep in mind that not every Android app on your phone has an Android TV version, and browsing the App Store for Android TV can be a pain - you always feel like you're not being shown every possible app with a search.
However, an Android TV interface improvement is said to be on the cards, and the Shield TV Pro will see any benefits the update eventually brings with it. Plus, Google Chromecast is built-in here, so any Chromecast-supported mobile app you want to throw at the big screen via the Shield will be supported here.
It's worth noting that all of this can be browsed using voice commands from any part of the interface or from within the app, which includes the feature of a mic. Google Assistant's native voice butler is built-in, but the Nvidia Shield TV Pro can also be controlled with Amazon's Alexa devices. As such, Shield TV Pro is an effective smart home hub as well as a media player and gaming box.
So what's new in terms of features for the Nvidia Shield TV Pro? It's mostly down to video playback performance.
Shield TV already supports a lot of HDR formats, but now it can also playback Dolby Vision content, a premium format that uses frame-by-frame metadata to alter brightness and contrast levels. It's an incredibly rewarding feature that brings a lot of depth to a scene if your TV supports it.
It also means that the Shield now supports both Dolby's premium cinema formats, including Dolby Atmos Audio, which can reveal sounds coming from behind and above the movie viewer, for a truly immersive experience - provided you've got compatible The speaker gear is connected to your TV.
The other big addition is a new AI Image Upscaler that can be turned on or off at the push of a button. It's brilliant and transformative for content playing below 4K resolution.
Powered by an algorithm determined by a neural network, which has been fed thousands of hours of footage, it is processed locally and can soft sources extremely fast, making them worthy of your 4K TV, standard- Not to mention definition sources (like some YouTube content). Running on a 1080p set.
It doesn't work on every app (anything running above 1080p or 30fps won't accept it), and there are some occasions where it can be overly aggressive where an artistic intention is really for a softer focus. can say. But for the most part, it's an excellent addition—so much so that a side-by-side slider, intended as a demo tool, is left accessible in the play menu.
GeForce Now and GameStream
If there's one thing that sets the Nvidia Shield TV Pro apart from other streaming boxes, it's the built-in GeForce Now service. This essentially gives you access to top-tier PC games on your TV, whether you have a gaming PC or not – provided your Internet connection is capable of reaching consistent, moderate-fast speeds. GeForce Now is currently free to use, as it is still considered to be in the 'beta' stage - what it might ultimately cost once it is beyond beta remains to be seen.
The feature works by creating a Virtual PC on Nvidia's remote server, which uses super-charged components to deliver on-demand max-settings gameplay visuals.
These are then streamed to your Shield TV Pro as a video feed, which you can control – all the heavy lifting is done remotely, so you'll have fast enough internet to prevent stuttering while the video is playing. connection is required. It is the same concept as Google Stadia.
Nvidia has done a lot to improve GeForce Now over the years. Running at a maximum resolution of 4K and 60fps, a solid internet connection will let you manage to play the game with great ease. A recommended speed of 25Mbps is required for stable 1080p/30fps streaming.
The list of games with GeForce Now support is constantly expanding, and adding to your library is easy - link your Steam account, and any supported games you buy there can be played through GeForce Now. You can also buy games from Steam through GeForce Now, which means you don't even need access to a PC to play.
GeForce Now started life as a Netflix-like subscription service, giving you access to a list of games for a monthly fee. Remnants of that service remain, all Shield TV Pro owners have access to twenty included games straight out of the box, including Batman, Arkham City, a handful of Lego games, and Tomb Raider. Not new titles, but all are welcome for free.
However, it is not always intuitive. Some games are better supported than others (for example, with the gamepad in mind from the beginning), and you'll sometimes be thrown into the Steam 'Big Picture' interface, left wondering what's going on. is presented with a pop-up Starter Menu Launcher window for your game in question.
But there are benefits to playing streamed games beyond low hardware entry requirements – games load in an instant, without needing to download up to ten gigabytes of data in advance, with all the latest updates and patches applied automatically. Huh.
Shield TV Pro also has a feature called GameStream, the concept of which is similar to the GeForce Now service. If you have a computer packing a compatible Nvidia GPU, you can stream almost anything from that machine to the Shield TV Pro.
It takes some tinkering, and doesn't bode well for those without a reasonably powerful gaming PC in another room of the house, but again emphasizes the flexibility of Nvidia's powerhouse box.
Remote
With the Nvidia Shield TV, Pro comes to a new remote control in the box, and it's thoughtfully reconsidered. Instead of being flat, it is now shaped like a prism and includes dedicated playback controls, as well as a selection wheel. A dedicated Netflix button is also included, as well as a mic-on button and a 'quick menu button that can be customized in the interface to jump straight to any function you choose.
The remote now also doubles as an IR blaster for controlling your TV, while if you use the most unnecessary Nvidia Shield TV mobile app it will beep even if it's lost.
Another improvement is that the remote now uses AAA batteries instead of the previous generation's button-shaped watch battery. However, it's still not quite as convenient as the first-generation Shield Remote's USB rechargeable power supply.
Decision
There isn't much new within this Nvidia Shield TV Pro Edition, but that doesn't stop it from being an essential purchase for those new to the product. It's unmatched when it comes to its 4K HDR streaming capabilities, it has extensive app support for the Android TV Foundation, and is potentially littered with gamers, whether playing games stored locally on the device or using GeForce Now on the net through the service.
However, there's a slight learning curve for many of the tricks the Shield Pro is capable of, and you need a strong web connection to take advantage of all its gaming powers. Android TV as an interface also needs some finesse (as does GeForce Now's game browsing library) — but any fault with Android TV lies with Google, not Nvidia.
What's disappointing is the price - for the same cost as the older Shield TV gaming version, the Shield Pro really only adds a processor bump and a nifty upscaling feature. And that's at the cost of a bundled Nvidia Shield controller we were fans of. As a result, what was already an expensive streaming proposition offers less value than previous generations.
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