Nvidia Shield - Owners Thread

[Stefano77]

Help me find an inexpensive working dac for my shield.  Right now I'm trying Dac1 for ps4 (turtle Beach) but it doesn't work!  I also enabled USB audio but nothing, nothing is heard.

Have link? 

Edited October 23, 2019 by Stefano77

[liquid12]

I got one off eBay that worked for me. Haven't used it in a while as the shield has been moved to a room with no hifi. Search for "CM6631A Digital Interface USB to I2S/SPDIF Coaxial Output 32/24Bit 192K Board"

 

Edit: should say I was just using this to pass through to a Yamaha rn-602

Edited October 25, 2019 by liquid12

[Stefano77]

On 25/10/2019 at 10:50 AM, liquid12 said:

I got one off eBay that worked for me. Haven't used it in a while as the shield has been moved to a room with no hifi. Search for "CM6631A Digital Interface USB to I2S/SPDIF Coaxial Output 32/24Bit 192K Board"

 

Edit: should say I was just using this to pass through to a Yamaha rn-602

 

Can you recognize at least 5.1 Dolby Digital and Ac3 5.1?

 I took this product (Terratec Aureon 7.1 USB) but it doesn't work for me, Dolby Digital is not recognized

 

 Do you confirm that the product you have indicated works?

 

and this?

 

Edited October 26, 2019 by Stefano77

[Stefano77]

On 25/10/2019 at 10:50 AM, liquid12 said:

I got one off eBay that worked for me. Haven't used it in a while as the shield has been moved to a room with no hifi. Search for "CM6631A Digital Interface USB to I2S/SPDIF Coaxial Output 32/24Bit 192K Board"

 

Edit: should say I was just using this to pass through to a Yamaha rn-602

Can you recognize at least 5.1 Dolby Digital and Ac3 5.1?

 I took this product (Terratec Aureon 7.1 USB) but it doesn't work for me, Dolby Digital is not recognized

 

 Do you confirm that the product you have indicated works?

[cwt]

On 08/09/2018 at 12:43 PM, andresz said:

Thanks for the responses. It is very difficult to get AV streaming hardware that suits us audiophiles.

 

The objective has been to get a hifi experience for home theatre  - merging hifi and HT rigs. Quite tricky but a great experience when you watch and listen to live concerts. Youtube is a great platform as it is like Tidal and Spotify with Video.

Have a look at the latest Dune HD Ultra4k andrez ; properly designed balanced xlr's with common mode noise rejection ; sabre dacs and a decent analogue stage + an isolated audio hdmi out and hdmi in for chromecasts etc

https://shop.dune-hd.com/products/dune-hd-ultra-4k

[Mr_Orange]

Thread bump....

 

There is a new version of the Shield, launched on the 28th in the US and some other markets. Nvidia confirmed to earlier, by online chat, that they have no information on an Australian launch.

 

There are 2 models: Sheild TV and Shield TV Pro.

 

Info here: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/shop/- note this is the US site.

 

I only recently took interest in the Shield since more and more app developers are dropping support for my LG Smart TV as LG themselves are no longer developing the version of WebOS that it runs.

 

An Android TV box seemed a logical choice given the ongoing support by the app developers (Netflix, Plex) and new apps such as Disney+ not supporting LG webOS.

 

I held off buying a 2017 Shield though as I discovered the new version was imminent.... just not in Aus!

[Hydrology]

@Marc any chance you can modify the title of the thread to reflect how Nvidia is spelled correctly? Two and a half year-old thread, bloody annoying!!! 

 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Hydrology said:

@Marc any chance you can modify the title of the thread to reflect how Nvidia is spelled correctly? Two and a half year-old thread, bloody annoying!!! 

 

Done

[Hydrology]

1 hour ago, Marc said:

Done

Woohoo!

[MattyW]

I enjoy it for Kodi and Netflix.... I don't really use for anything else. Still using JRiver on a media PC for music though I could probably get away with using Kodi for that too considering my DAC is old school R2R 16 bit 44k.... Assuming the sound quality of Kodi on Android is better than on Windows. In Windows I'm much better off running JRiver with Kernel Streaming or ASIO.

Edited April 14, 2020 by MattyW

[daniam]

On 29/10/2019 at 1:17 PM, Mr_Orange said:

I only recently took interest in the Shield since more and more app developers are dropping support for my LG Smart TV as LG themselves are no longer developing the version of WebOS that it runs.

I had an Xbox as media center (not for games) and a Sony Tv.  Tv blew up after 10 years, so replaced it with an LG Smart Tv - but the thing is dumb.  The Xbox came out of the system because the SBS app no longer worked and a couple of other app issues (plus a couple of periods when the TV guide stopped updating).  So, looking at the nvidea shield pro, frustrated by most of the other offerings that are all close but no cigar and dissapointed about no local Roku support.

 

 But...  For all the money that the shield is, no stereo love on the thing is a sore point and I want this to drive tidal through to my stereo.  I have a dac with toslink/usb in, that goes out to old school RCA 2 channel stereo goodness, I still want the tv goodness, so still wanting the hdmi to pass it's best video quality to the dumb tv.  Suggestions?

[daniam]

Also, I'm probably not the only one looking at doing this, so an explanation of the what/why for the audience.  But if you wouldn't mind, I'm personally a bit overwhelmed by bits/bytes/hdr/arc/etc/etc/etc/etc/etc.  A "just buy this" would be helpful, I'm a media lover, not a media equipment lover    The stereo side is sorted out, awaiting a signal by the dac (currently a topping d30 https://www.amazon.com.au/TOPPING-D30-Audio-Decoder/dp/B06XKS9W8T)

[MattyW]

I had hoped to use the Nvidia Shield though no decent music players wilmth network support was the issue.  Kodi just doesn't cut it when it comes to sound quality. Still using a media PC. Can't best it's flexibility.

[Scratcher]

2 hours ago, daniam said:

I had an Xbox as media center (not for games) and a Sony Tv.  Tv blew up after 10 years, so replaced it with an LG Smart Tv - but the thing is dumb.  The Xbox came out of the system because the SBS app no longer worked and a couple of other app issues (plus a couple of periods when the TV guide stopped updating).  So, looking at the nvidea shield pro, frustrated by most of the other offerings that are all close but no cigar and dissapointed about no local Roku support.

 

 But...  For all the money that the shield is, no stereo love on the thing is a sore point and I want this to drive tidal through to my stereo.  I have a dac with toslink/usb in, that goes out to old school RCA 2 channel stereo goodness, I still want the tv goodness, so still wanting the hdmi to pass it's best video quality to the dumb tv.  Suggestions?

I have a couple of nvidia shields, they are great for plex and kodi.

Have you tried connecting the USB output from shield to your dac for tidal?

[daniam]

On 17/05/2020 at 9:40 PM, Conch said:

I have a couple of nvidia shields, they are great for plex and kodi.

Have you tried connecting the USB output from shield to your dac for tidal?

I didn't have a unit before - but I do now, thanks for pointing out the USB as I was a nervous nelly about going ahead and buying it, I was so fixated by rca/toslink that I couldn't see the obvious      Yes, the USB to the DAC is making TIDAL sing very sweetly (took advantage of the $5 for 120 days deal listed for Tidal in the great deals thread - https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/forum/272-great-deals-bargains-specials-alerts/), my wife and I were fighting over the remote to look up and play the next song for 4 hours after I first set it up.

 

I'm liking this unit - a lot.  Easy to setup, easy to use, a no nonsense remote, but given it's cost relative to the competition, by Jingoes you'd expect it to perform.  Of the things left to resolve though, is free to air tv, given that it's hooked up  via hdmi, can it play FTA as is somehow - or would I need to either just use the tv directly for that - or buy a usb dongle to fit the antenna?

[Silent Screamer]

For years now I have been paying through the nose for high end computers to try stream media content with Kodi. I have bought a couple of the Darbee edition Oppo player all in the hope of finding a universal player that can stream all kinds of video and audio media. So far I have had very mediocre results with so called media players and dedicated PCs.

 

I was speaking with a friend today who said he can sell me a 2020 model NVidia Shield Pro for $399. After spending thousands on PCs and other player I am reluctant to believe a $400 player can do what PCs costing thousands can't. I'm getting desperate to find something that just works. He assures me these players can do it all. Should I buy one or are there better alternatives out there?

[davewantsmoore]

9 hours ago, Silent Screamer said:

I am reluctant to believe a $400 player can do what PCs costing thousands can't.

You'll need to be much more specific.

 

Without specifics the short answer is yes.  Shield (or ATV) do practically everything a PC can.  Video playback is not an arduous task (even high colour / frame rate / resolution).

 

Even substantially cheaper "Anroid TV" and similar boxes can do it all.   HDR10, 4K, H265, bitstream, CEC, etc.

[DavBiggs]

9 hours ago, Silent Screamer said:

So far I have had very mediocre results with so called media players and dedicated PCs.

What aspects of your setups have your found mediocre? Knowing those can help recommending options / solutions.

 

Have been extremely happy with my 2017 shield, runs everything except for Apple TV+. Local media is stored on a NAS and played through Kodi.

 

However now that I have an LG CX, I really only use it for Kayo as that does not have an app on the LG store.

But I do now use it as a Plex server which has been going well over the couple of weeks I have been running it. Bonus with the shield,  your don’t need plex pass to enable hardware transcoding. I have tested simultaneously playing a couple of 4k movies transcoded down to 1080p and it was fine. It’s not a powerhouse server, but it does the job.

[Silent Screamer]

12 hours ago, davewantsmoore said:

You'll need to be much more specific.

 

Without specifics the short answer is yes.  Shield (or ATV) do practically everything a PC can.  Video playback is not an arduous task (even high colour / frame rate / resolution).

 

Even substantially cheaper "Anroid TV" and similar boxes can do it all.   HDR10, 4K, H265, bitstream, CEC, etc.

I bought one of those $100 TV boxes and it only half worked. Plays 4K movies jittery, the apps would lock up requiring a hard reboot. It played more movie codecs than some of the more expensive players but it lacked the reliability I'm looking for. What more specifics do you need?

[Silent Screamer]

12 hours ago, DavBiggs said:

What aspects of your setups have your found mediocre? Knowing those can help recommending options / solutions.

 

Have been extremely happy with my 2017 shield, runs everything except for Apple TV+. Local media is stored on a NAS and played through Kodi.

 

However now that I have an LG CX, I really only use it for Kayo as that does not have an app on the LG store.

But I do now use it as a Plex server which has been going well over the couple of weeks I have been running it. Bonus with the shield,  your don’t need plex pass to enable hardware transcoding. I have tested simultaneously playing a couple of 4k movies transcoded down to 1080p and it was fine. It’s not a powerhouse server, but it does the job.

The Oppo players are very limited in their ability to play back all sorts of codecs and can be hit and miss when it comes to network connections. PCs are OK but have had issues with Kodi. Bought a couple of TV box devices, but have had reliability with freezing and lockups. Currently using a PC and Kodi but can't always play hi res movies back smoothly.

[davewantsmoore]

19 hours ago, Silent Screamer said:

I bought one of those $100 TV boxes and it only half worked.

Yes, the compatibility is quite spotty (drivers, etc.) ..... Ones which cost << $100 can be fine (H265, etc.) if there is support for them in the software you want to run.

 

19 hours ago, Silent Screamer said:

What more specifics do you need?

What you are referring to when you ask if a Nvidia shield (or similar) can so "what a PC costing thousands can't" .... what did ou tink I could be reffering to?

 

What is that the PC can't (or can) do that you are interested in.... and I can explain the support on more "appliance" like player.  Shield, ATV, or 'Android TV like' boxes (there are many types, and many aren't good for running your own software on).

 

Without more specifics (like I said), I'll assue you want things like HW accelerated modern codecs, frame rate switching, HDR, 4K, CEC.   They are all on Shield/ATV (and on much cheaper players too).

[davewantsmoore]

19 hours ago, Silent Screamer said:

Bought a couple of TV box devices, but have had reliability with freezing and lockups.

It's important to find ones which are speciailly recommended (for their hardware/software support).

https://kodi.wiki/view/Android_hardware

 

... or you can find a box where you can just install "Kodi on Linux" on it (rather than Kodi on Android), but this requires even more specific hardware support.

 

I'm not sure off the top of my head which is the best android TV hardware to recommend these days .... as I'ven been running Kodi just on AppleTV and Raspeberry Pi (and PCs) for quite a while now.

19 hours ago, Silent Screamer said:

Currently using a PC and Kodi but can't always play hi res movies back smoothly.

There should be zero problem with this is you are using recomended hardware, eg. a GPU or CPU with hardware video decoding..... lthough windows/PCs can be a nightmre.... I'd usually recommend something like LibreELEC  (Kodi on Linux appliance package for PC)

[davewantsmoore]

Some of the things which aren't likely or at all going to work on those types of boxes (Android/SoC) are MVC video or some types of 3D ... and 10bit+ H264 video.

 

Nothing else is an issue as long as you are on a hardware platform that is supported.... but that being said, Shield/ATV are a lot more powerful and supported (and come with nicer remote controls).

 

[MattyW]

Just ordered a 2020 Shield for the 4k AI upscaling. It should be a nice step up from my old Shield for Netflix and Plex 

[TP1]

 

 

 

Has anybody been able to compare the new  Nvidia Shield Pro  to Apple TV 4K for streaming  video  quality for both 4K and 1080p sources?   

 

I also understand that Nvidia  does streaming Dolby Atmos better than ATV.  Is this born out practice in terms of  audible improvement?