Not sure if I needed to buy this (especially with newer Android TV's), but I think it's the cheapest it's been for a while..
Bought with 28 Degrees MC incase it hits that sweet $168 price again.
Probably a 2019 model coming out next week knowing my luck.
Yep.. Well, 2017 model with 2015 specs lol.
This because rather than releasing the product to the market.
They spent years didling around, maybe getting the product market ready, it was always comming soon. When it did come came thr product recalls and limited markets, whilst they tryed to dump the older Tegra K1 models onto the market.
Instead they should have given it active cooling and actually sell the chipset when it was far ahead of the competition.
Yeah true.
I've tried;
Xiaomi Mi box - it couldn't handle an automatic update, and also had an international power adapter.
Apple TV - good if you rely heavily on iTunes.
Google Chromecast - good for casting and YouTube. Not so much for browsing video libraries.
WDTV Live! This lasted the longest, but eventually got outdated (no wifi, h.265 decoding unsupported)
you need to try voda TV, its pretty good.
+1 for Vodafone TV, it's an absolutely crazy deal. Love mine.
@DonIsGood: Amazon are releasing a native Prime app for Android TV "in the coming months":
https://9to5google.com/2019/04/18/amazon-prime-video-chromec…
In the mean time there are a few here that people have had varying success with:
@kirt: Cool, thanks. I have the Shield but I couldn't load Hulu on it even if I configured it to US via Express VPN, thus thought I might try my luck with the Voda TV if Hulu can be installed there instead
@DonIsGood: I could install the Hulu apk from that mega link above on the Vodafone TV, but get the error "We're sorry, but Hulu is a US-only service" when trying to run it without a VPN (haven't tried with a VPN).
Did you get that far on the Shield, or it wouldn't even install, or…?
Edit: Just installed that same apk on my Shield, so am assuming you got that far?
@kirt: Interesting… When I set the Shield up (and configure it to US), it prompted that Hulu (and other US cable apps) would be installed but none of them ended on the Shield. I did try to sideload Hulu apk with no success. I will give that mega link a go, thanks
@DonIsGood: Did you try via Aptoid? (Aptoid for Android TV, If I remember correctly, I installed this originally via the Puffin TV browser). This "store" has rendered good results for me (BBC iPlayer, PBS, Vudu and MoviesAnywhere)… better than sideloading in my experience.
@DonIsGood: I sideloaded Prime Video to my Voda and binged all of The Grand Tour with no issues.
Dunno about Hulu though. It's never had anything remotely worth me trying it.
But yeah, Voda is best bang for buck.
No Kayo though
Yea i'm not sure what this $215 unit does differently from the $72 Voda unit. I have 2 Voda TV's and they've been flawless.
@1jwoz: Basically its more powerful, newer android, more bells n whistles for gaming. I use both. Im not sure the vodatv does refresh rate switching properly, and i think it may have a few limits with some some high spec 4k local content depending on how you serve it, codec, bitrate. I dont really use it for 4k but a few i tried seemed ok (kodi/plex, 5ghz wifi). I mostly use it for 1080p stuff and streaming. The vodatv LAN port is only 100 not gigabit too. But overall its a very, very capable bit of kit and killer value at $72. Highly recommended.
@Xizor: Can this stream games from the PC?
I'm looking to replace the SteamLink which can be unreliable at times.
@Adamiam: nVidia shield can, vodatv cannot. I tried it once for 5mins then threw it down and went back to my PC though so cant say much about it.
@Adamiam: I tried the gaming to check it out
Streamed Apex Legends, and playing a fps on a controller is (obviously) a horrible experience. Everything did run fluently, and all the buttons mapped across fine
Tried out an old Dirt title, which was a fine experience.
I'm not sure how the SteamLink works, but you're literally just viewing your PC monitor duplicated on to the TV.
@1jwoz: The shield has some games and game streaming features, and can run Plex server.
The media playback features on the Voda TV should be about the same, except possibly for some higher end formats. Haven't run into any issues myself.
I have one of each, Voda TV didn't exist when I bought my shield.
@shiftyphil: The voda doesn't do Prime Video without sideloading, but the apks you sideload don't have very good compatibility unless things have changed in the last few months. The best I've found has distorted audio for the first few seconds of every video but most apks flatout don't play videos at all.
I also couldn't get the voda box to pass through digital audio directly to my amp from Kodi at all. That second one was a dealbreaker for me as it meant no surround for movies, so I bought a Shield which has been flawless and the voda is down in the spare room. A bit of a corner case probably, but thought I'd mention it for those reading.
@1jwoz: I am not sure but it can do game stream good I guess? I am trying to run my techfast gaming PC to 4k hdr TV in living room and so far found only shield is able to do this without any issue. I am trying to use moonlight with same hdr 4k tv on my s9 plus.. dont know if other tv can do that.. hope I am wrong and I dont have any android box atm..
I need a device That can stream at h265 on moonlight..
I dont own shield but have tried using archlinux ps4 with moonlight but it doesnt have h264 nor h265 capabilities so need a cheap but best performing game streaming machine. Anyone have idea ?
I was thinking about ordering the shield anyway, then I read your comment, VodaTV is really great deal.
If you like Apple TV, but not iTunes, there is an app called Infuse that is, to put it simply, beautiful. It is like a more sleek beautiful looking version of Kodi but for Apple. Personally, I've always stuck to Android tv boxes and use the Xiaomi because my phone is Android and Apple TV doesn't integrate too well with that. It does the job after a restart, but has to be restarted numerous times a day as it seems to grind to a halt just by being on.
I have all of these (minus Apple TV) and a LG 2019 TV. I still need the shield for Kayo and Android gaming on the TV. The MiBox is pretty good, just can't do 4k streaming well or do high end android games (or high end emulators).
How does an international adapter make the mi box worse Lmfao
Actually watching terminator genysis on my wdtv live streaming now. Still going after 8 years. The Logitech harmony 650 I got at the same time will die sooner.
:) I am still using my WDTV too. (I also have Nvidia Shield TV which replaced my Asus Nexus Android TV which google dumped unceremoniously a few years back).
The WDTV works fully integrated with my WD NAS servers, however the firmware is no longer updated and most of the apps are dead now too.
Excellent with older video and audio codes and file types, however doesn't support x265 HEVC, 4K HDR.Ap0art from that, it works very well and is still a very robust unit. It was a shame that WD decided to no longer support it… they through the towel in when Android TV and Chromecasting came along.
does this shield play 4k/1080p h265 hevc 10 bit videos smoothly?
I use plex, youtube, and netflix on mine and it doesn't have any issues with that sort of content.
i am talking about local content like playing videos from a shared hdd/pc on the network.
would you mind testing?
@pinkybrain: I brought mine so i could stream original 4k blu-ray content. It's definitely lived up to it's reputation
Yes, and barely lifts a finger doing so.
I dunno about the codecs of the files, but I stream 4K 60GB files perfectly from my NAS over ethernet.
I use Kodi … however the standard remote is a real pain trying to FF ..REWIND and get rid of the menu
so you can install latest version of kodi 18.2 etc?
and it can play all the 4k/1080 h265 hevc 10 bit videos smoothly for you?
@Xizor: how much you paid for yours?
read that someone paid $150 on this post
so the 200+ is less of a bargain.
@pinkybrain: Supply and demand mate, exchange rate changes too. I got mine for under $200 but it was 18 months ago. If you need it, buy it, if not wait and maybe save $20-30 on a better sale.
yeah does anyone know about a new model coming out? seen a few articles on the web about new remote etc. but nothing about a new model??
They have no real need, I read something like they don't really produce a fancier chipset so the development isn't worth the cost or something to that effect.
I doubt they will bring a new model in the next couple of years.
There will not be much improvement.
Maybe when AV1 codec becomes standard.
I bought it for around $150 last year but never opened, and sold it 2 month ago for $220! Unbelievable……
Nice story bro
got the ozbargain link where you put it for that price
makes this 200+ not such a good deal
Hi mate, I just share my experience. $148 was what we paid back to Nov last year.
link is here: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/417483
did you use a $20 coupon
cos that link says $168.
pretty good price compare to how much it selling now, even with the deal posted here.
Good deal ;)
There's been some decent apps and Kodi add-ons released recently too:
https://www.matthuisman.nz/2019/05/foxtel-go-kodi-add-on.htm…
… plus add-ons for Kayo, Optus Sport, beIN Sports, and Foxtel Now:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1105215/shield-tv/-…
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/mobi.bytearray.channels
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1106207/shield-tv/-…
https://mega.nz/#F!PaJQELqY!dg3wVzOFIybj6an5Yeq7PA
…plus all the FTA catchups are now available from the Play Store too.
If this Foxtel Go trick works I'll be sooooo happy! :)
It does, and it's excellent ;)
Agreed. What i detest about Go is some of the on demand stuff like footy games, sports shows etc are in crap quality. I went to watch NRL360 the other day as i missed an episode and it was SD or lower. It was rubbish. Such a let down.
@Xizor: Kayo is much better than I expected. The 1080p content through ESPN and the AFL/NRL/etc. is great.
@serpserpserp: Yeah i got on trial. It's pretty good when it works, though i've had mixed experiences with it not maintaining 1080p (seems to be issue with their content delivery).
@Xizor: I have a 50/2 cable connection so it does it pretty well. I might get a resolution drop for maybe 30 seconds out of a 3 hour live broadcast. I was watching the NBA finals live this week on the TV and also watching the UFC replay on my laptop at the same time and both were broadcasting at top quality.
@serpserpserp: Yeah nice, it varies, i was hoping to get rid of Foxtel but i cannot handle dropping to lower res's when im amped watching a game. I have 115/5 cable, and a 50/20 NBN, and just mixed experiences specifically just with Kayo. Probably NRL and AFL are much bigger audiences though and i think thats where Kayo is failing to properly scale to demand smoothly for all its users. Whirlpool has a long ass thread about it.
@Xizor: Hmm might try the AFL live (I always watch on replay).
How do you manage your streaming content with two fixed connections? Do you use some sort of mesh? Or does the cable to one thing and the NBN connection do another?
@Xizor: Yeah I was hoping it could potentially be a Kayo replacement - live TV is acceptable at 720p, but the 480p on demand sports content is not.
Kayo has its own app now by the way!
Yep, and it's the best of the bunch.
The Kodi add-on is more for people who like to have the skipping / custom features and all-in-one interface of Kodi (I prefer the Kayo Android TV app personally).
I find the kayo plugin for kodi is much more reliable, the android tv app seems to do weird stuff dropping down from 1080p needlessly (i.e. not even a live event). It's definitely kayo specific issue.
Wow thank you so much for the Foxtel Go link kirt, I was getting so sick of casting from my computer, legend!
No worries, and yeah, it makes a big difference being able to sit back and watch on the big screen using a media player with a remote ;)
im waiting for it to go to around $180…..
What is the best TV box these days for streaming 4k contents? I bought new Sony TV and now I want to be able to stream 4k movies. Is Kodi still working as I remember it's been having issues with contents? I was looking into Amazon fire TV stick for 4k streaming on kodi or other sources.
I'm on a Minix U9-h only coz it comes with a cool double sided gyro remote.
It's still over 200 bux on eBay. Quite expensive for a TV box. Is it much better than the rest of similar spec TV boxes on the market?
The Minix version of Android is not compatible with a lot of Google Play store apps like Netflix. Very unintuitive UI as well. Better off getting a Android TV OS which has a proper 12 foot UI rather than full Android OS for these
Any recommendation?
Honestly man, I gave up on Kodi streaming. I would waste hours looking for a decent quality version of what I wanted to watch. The. I'd be trying to get it to stream without buffering and I'm on Telstra cable with 100Mb download speed. Torrents are way better way to go for just getting what you want without the hassle.
It is a massive hassle which stops working every 3 months.
Anyone else have issues with the chromecast on these??
Yes, constantly doesnt work! Was fine up until a few months back
I have no issues with chromecast, but streaming to Plex often has issues I haven't been able to fix.
No issues ever. What is the problem?
constantly shits itself …. often need to restart the box for it to start working again
I've noticed if you're binging a few eps say on Foxtel GO it will connect and work for the first ep, but when it goes to load the next ep it just hangs itself …. thought maybe Foxtel Go was the issue (coz that app is glitchy AF) but I don't have the issue when casting to my actual chromecast …. so through a process of elimination its gotta be the Chromecast in the Shield.
To avoid it from hanging itself, i just stop the episode before it ends and tries to automatically load the next episode and do it manually and it seems to work …. but I shouldn't have to do that
I had a lot of issues with the Android Foxtel Go casting when I was using it for the short time I had it.
Probably a 2019 model coming out next week knowing my luck.
Unlikely, there's really nothing to add hardware wise. It already does everything. Maybe some quality of life additions and a design refresh, but nothing substantial.
Even if they did, it wouldn't be worth the price increase over this anyway.
If only you could put Zwift on it then I would throw my Apple TV to the dogs and buy this instantly.
Why cant you? Theres a zwift android beta, does that not work on this?
I think you can get it to work with APK files etc etc but seems to be a bit hit and miss. Would rather they just have the app made for it. So I might just wait longer
thanks… grabbed one..
been wanting one for ages… hoped for it to be cheaper, but its been ages in between deals
Awesome, been waiting to get one of these for the olds for a while, refused to pay $250+ when I got mine for $170!
Oh nice, except that it's missing the controller though. Is it worth skipping over?
Can anyone confirm if this does Dolby atmos?
I've been researching this and it seemingly can do TrueHD Atmos. One of few, perhaps only, streaming devices that can do lossless atmos. Can't do hdr10+ or Dolby vision though without eARc/hdmi 2.1.
No issues with Atmos or dtsx.
Perfect emulation device
It's out of stock, should be expired. Unfortunately, seems they are not available in most places. Definitely in defecit currently. Unable to buy one for a couple of weeks. Without having to pay $250+
I'm thinking of getting one of these for my Hisense P7 65" TV.
I currently use my Xbox One S to play all my apps that aren't included on my T.V.s app store.
However the Xbox can have issues recognising the odd file and has issues with DTS.
I'm considering selling my Xbox as I hardly play games and would prefer to replace it with a decent android media player.
But I am also waiting for the Nvidia to drop below $200.
Would the Nvidia Shield be better than the Xbox One S as a dedicated media player?
Back in stock now… grabbed one, thanks OP
I have bought about 7 of these now for friends and family who also think theyre great. Replaced hunk of crap apple tv.
You will not regret buying one of these, I use mine almost daily!
its crazy that this is 4 years old and no media device even gets close to what this is capable of…