An Apple Guy’s Case for Android. A Shield TV Review…

Everyone who knows me knows I love Apple products. I’m writing this blog on an iPhone, wearing an Apple Watch, own two iMac’s, a MacBook Air, an iPad, an Apple TV and a set of AirPods. After hearing so many times online about the Nvidia Shield TV I had to take a look at it and indulge my curiosity. Here is my Shield TV review; hope it helps!

For those of you not familiar with the product it’s basically a high powered streaming device with quality cell phone parts in it. It competes in the same product category as the Apple TV, Roku, fire stick, etc. The operating system is Android TV which is just a modified version of the Android operating system hundreds of millions of people use on their smart phone devices every day.

There are many reasons why the Shield TV is so great. Free applications like KODI, Retroarch, and many other apps that Apple would never let you put on an Apple TV make this device so desirable. KODI, which is just the modern incarnation of the original Xbox Media Center (XBMC) project created for the original Xbox, plays every format of audio and video I’ve thrown at it natively without altering it with the exception of Super Audio CD, which has to be switched to PCM for a reason obvious to those who are into that kind of thing. I’m able to easily mount my Windows 10 PC as a network share for all of my music, movies, TV shows etc. to be played back via my home network on my Shield TV.

The Shield TV is powerful enough to play video game emulators up to the Dreamcast and Nintendo 64 smoothly. It also handles 4K video and high resolution audio smoothly. It is in my opinion the ultimate media device. It also gives you the option of easily pairing virtually every wireless video game controller ever made via Bluetooth to it. And for the occasional app that’s not available directly through the Google Play store you can sideload apps directly onto the Shield TV.

Perhaps the most appealing feature to me is the Nvidia proprietary AI-Enhanced Upscaling technology. All of my 1080P and below media content is upscaled to 4K which makes it look noticeably crisper and sharper with more detail. These are just a few of the many appealing features of the shield TV.

I still believe that the Apple TV is the best fit for the typical everyday user particularly if they already have an iPhone and iPad or other Apple products. However, for advanced users like myself the Shield TV stands head and shoulders above any other product in its category I’ve tested. After owning and/or installing every other device in the media streaming category, I can highly recommend this product.

I hope this Shield TV review helped. If you all want to learn more about smart TV technologies please check out my Smart TV installation and support services page. 

Have questions about one today? Please contact me here or call: (502) 797-7399.