We’re considering shutting down our media PC for good, as it’s aged, noisy and draws a lot of power. We’ve been googling around and it seems like Nvidia Shield would be a good substitute. However, we mainly seem to get the positive ads or positive reviews about it when we search around, and I would like to get some more “rounded” comments about it.

How does it perform with VPN? Can you stream games from other computers? Does it handle media streaming services well without lag? Is it a time/money sink?

  • imgonnatrythis@lemm.ee
    1·
    11 months ago

    I have a shield and shield pro (both 2019). It’s a bummer that they don’t really seem supported by nvidia anymore. It’s forgotten tech with no real updates and things seem to be deteriorating a bit (Google search function has really fallen apart). It would be hard for me to be excited about buying a new one now, but that being said, I’m not sure I’ve seen a better modern alternative. Their 1080 to 4k conversion algorithm has not been updated since 2019, which is sad but it’s still better than anything else I’ve seen. The remote is excellent. I don’t use it for gaming, but I’ve heard the pro is the way to go for that. As someone that has both I would actually not recommend the extra price of the pro for someone not going to use it for gaming. I have custom launchers loaded which is nice, but besides the ads, the stock launcher isn’t that terrible.

  • FeelzGoodMan420@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    1 year ago

    If you are getting it for local playback (i.e. Plex), get a Zidoo Z9x or something along those lines. You’ll have way less headaches, I promise you.

    Plex is becoming more and more of a pain in the ass. The company is trying to push everyone to get a plex pass and I suspect it probably won’t even be free for too much longer. This is just based on recent changes and where I see the software going. To top it all off, Plex on Android is by far the worst thing on the fucking planet. Every other update breaks basic functionailty.

    So yea, do yourself a favor and just get something like a Zidoo. It’s the same price as a 2019 shield pro anyway. Just note that a Zidoo isn’t for streaming. It’s for local playback only.

    EDIT: Forgot to mention, the Shield has incorrect colors for Dolby Vision Profile 7 (blu ray format). So if you are playing those, then definitely DO NOT get the Shield.