Sorry this reply is so late but the 54/128 was a typo, should be 4/128.
absolutely
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When the chatter began with Firestick dropping and blocking I picked up the NVIDIA SHIELD TUBE as an immediate backup. I have loaded Kodi with all my previous apps. I have to say it far exceeds Firestick.
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I don’t have a shield, because I think they are over priced for what they are.
However given I use my PC to not only do everything that the phone will do and use it to stream, there really is no need for a shield.
As of late I have been contemplating making a theatre system up from an older PC, with a previous video card. An NVIDIA Titan XP to be precise, which blows most anything else away, original cost aound $1800. My newer card is even better an NVIDEA Titan RTX which is 4x faster than the XP. Old now but cost around $2499 USD new
Now back to the NVIDEA Shield. Given the history of my use of NVIDIA video cards. I could only say that given the shield is a video card with a few added extras, that the NVIDEA Shield will always be a force to be reckoned with when comparing against other type of device.
What it boils down to is the price difference and how much do you really want the difference in quality.
I don’t have to worry given the PC I use, having cheaper Android boxes and fire TV sticks strewn around, but if I were starting out again I would probably see if I could try out the Shield first.
Umm I have no Idea what a computer is worth these days I gave them up. I imagine a good lappy is expensive and I know a top line Tablet will drain the bank account a good bunch. So $150-200 for a Shield Pro is still worth it. A super device that once you learn how to use it will perform, as mine has, flawlessly for years. It is showing it’s age though with outdated HDMI and missing AVI codec, but mine drives my home theater with amazing efficiency and until it doesn’t, it’ll be the heart of my watching pleasure. 5 years and only $200, yowsa, wish they all lasted that long.
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You spotted the irony 
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Even after 5 years, the shield team over there is still pushing out updates.
It’s a testiment of the device’s resiliency and nvidia’s commitment.
With a htpc setup, using an old Titan card would be giving a lot of unnecessary overhead in terms of gpu strength for streaming (and not gaming). You could run a low end 9 series gtx card and stream just fine.
The bigger concern is what hdmi version you need for the TV and level of resolution and refresh rate you want for the media you’re going to be using.
A 9 series and 10 series Nvidia card will likely only support hdmi 2.0b (fine for 3840x2160 but many won’t do HDR) , while you’ll need to go 20+ series for 2.1+ for 120hz and HDR.
You also won’t get dolby vision on the titan card, but should pull Atmos from the Nvidia drivers.
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Nothing is as good as the shields.
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You are correct!
I agree. They still sell this puppy with only 3gbs of RAM and 16 gbs of internal memory? There is a lot more quantity and quality of excellent android devices now than when the Shield hit the market. Personally, I’d pick the Ugoos AM8 Pro or SK 1 any day of the week over the Shield.
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I would like to try the sk 1 or the Am8 pro someday, alot of good things said about those devices.
In Facebook groups or Reddit, everyone still recommends Shield. As a Chinese product, is SK1 better than Shield Pro in terms of performance, audio and video outputs?
You can find a lot of Android streamers that have better specs than the Shield. The question is do they run as smoothly and effortless as a Shield? I haven’t tried them all, but I’ve tried a bunch. The Shield is the unit to beat for a reason. It runs great with very few hiccups.
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As far as the upper end Ugoos devices, the answer is an unqualified “yes”.
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My Shield has handled attached external storage very well (in my case a 1 TB with NTFS). Does anybody know if an external drive formatted for large files will work on the Ugoos boxes?
AI Overview
Yes, Ugoos boxes can read NTFS:
File system support: Ugoos boxes support NTFS file systems.
External drive compatibility: Android TVs, like those with Ugoos boxes, are compatible with external hard disk drives (HDDs) or flash drives formatted in NTFS.
I bought my Shield Pro a year ago on a Black Friday deal. I was thinking the other day how glad I am that I did buy it. I was frustrated with the included remote but found that the Alexa Voice Pro remote works great so I’m a happy camper.I still have a 2nd Gen Cube which I love dearly but have been mostly using the Shield these days.
If I recall correctly, the Ugoos boxes are significantly more expensive, right?
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There is about a $10 difference between the Shield Pro and the Ugoos SK 1. Some of us here at Troypoint prefer Ugoos because of the stock, (open) android system which Ugoos employs along with a root switch, which gives you more leeway to customize and utilize more open source apps with your device. Ugoos matches Nvidia for product quality and support, while offering more RAM and internal memory.
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Miki, thanks for the response. The Shield writes files to the NTFS external drive when it does Tivimate recording. Is it possible to do this on Ugoos?
I don’t have an ugoos to test but I assume if it can read NTFS then it can write them as well.