Review: Nvidia Shield Android TV

Conclusion

The Nvidia Shield TV is the best-specified media player to date. For a £149 outlay you receive hardware that really is in another league to any other box I can think of. The Tegra X1 processor is potent enough to power the next generation of high-performance tablets and produces benchmarks that, currently, blow almost everything else clean out of the water. So no qualms about the hardware.

Yet for a capable media streamer having top-notch hardware and outputs is only one part of the overall puzzle. Nvidia pairs the Shield TV with the nascent Android TV operating system that's also found on some of the latest high-end televisions, notably Sony's, whose implementation, unlike Nvidia's, is compromised by a weak processor that leads to a substandard experience. Tellingly, Google appears to be putting more work into the bigger-selling Chromecast than it is with Android TV.

It's the limitations of how Android TV is presented on the Shield TV that are most stark. High-profile names are missing six months after launch, though many of the shortfalls are extraneous to Nvidia's control. The real question I ask myself is whether Android TV, in its current form, is the best operating system for an app-driven media streamer. The answer is more no than yes. Users who only need to access local content are better served, quite literally, with Kodi and PLEX, however.

Turning the focus towards gaming, the Shield TV's forte, the next question is one of whether the Tegra X1 makes sense in this type of device. The best gaming experience is through GeForce Now or Gamestream, both of which don't need the Tegra X1's innate power - rather, both use the decode function of the GPU - so an older, cheaper Shield will do. Tegra X1-optimised Android games are reasonably thin on the ground, as well. Ultimately I feel as if all the goodness in the Shield TV is being held back by Google in one form or another.

Nvidia's remit with this device was the produce the most capable, powerful and gamesworthy media streamer on the market, targeted specifically towards its audience of GeForce users. The Shield TV does that, handsomely in fact, and the obvious bugbears arrive from the way in which Android deals with gaming and as a media-centric operating system. Sweetening the £149 deal, the snazzy remote is included too.

Given all I've said about the ineffectual Android TV operating system and gaming on Android in general, the Shield TV is ultimately betwixt and between a cheap media streamer and a fully-fledged gaming console such as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It's closer to a proper console in capability, especially when streaming, so the target audience is understandably niche.

Nvidia wants the Shield TV to appeal to its core fanbase running high-end GeForce cards inside their PCs. In that context, and that alone, this uber-streamer makes sense. It serves to lay down solid ground as the first real step in revolutionising the way we play high-quality games, because streaming is the future.

Nvidia Shield TV

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The Nvidia Shield TV is available to order from Scan.co.uk.

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