A quick Google search says you should have changed your DNS settings and it would have been fine. If I bought a new device every time I had a problem with an app I’d run out of devices to buy lol. It’s not a problem with the device.
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I have the older shield box and the new tube version. Both are great but I like the old school better with the newer remote. Tube one is kinda flaky with some apps. I also have the KM2 from mecool. I like this box better than either of the Shields and it only costs $75-$80. Definitely something to look at if you are considering the $150 shield
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It’s $200 for the NS Pro, and well worth the extra $50 bucks!
I got mine yesterday and learning. Yesterday on the Home Screen it had the red circle in the left “APPS”. Turned Shield and TV off before bed, woke up to find it gone. Just used to having it in there I guess
The nividia shield is by far the best streaming device on the market and no 16 gig is not enough ai upscaleing is not quite there yet dolby sound you need a sound bar I have 2 nevidia shields and would not swop them for any other device
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THANK YOU for the heads-up on the remote app! Downloaded it today.
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You will love the Shield…nothing like it
I have a box full of old ATV boxes… After getting my 1st shield, squirreled $$ away and ended up getting 2 more. There is no comparison with anything else on the market. I also have a Firestick 4k that I use for travelling, but is drives me nuts when I use it because I am so use to the speed of the shield. New triangle remote is a must IMO though, absolutely hated the old remote, guess that is really the only thing I hated about it. Maybe the proprietary power supply too, but that is very low on the priority list.
I only wish I would have gotten the Pro with the internal hard drive for my LR, may have to get one and travel with the shield & retire the FS4K.
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Thank you everyone for your comments. It is clear that NVDIA users are very happy with their experience and have only a few trivial niggles. It is very tempting to go and get one as many consider it to be the best streaming box.
But ‘best’ has a number of interpretations - best in an absolute sense or best in how well it matches the needs of the user and his environment. This has led me to examine this aspect much more closely. What features do I want and not want, and which are irrelevant in my situation?
- I currently have a download speed when using a VPN of around 25Mb/s. I will probably upgrade to twice that but it is not possible to get much more here. Even if it was available would I want to pay the much higher rental cost? Probably not. Currently having a gigabyte Ethernet port is irrelevant for me.
- I understand that WiFi 6 is mostly beneficial when there are multiple users streaming simultaneously. I do not have that situation, so not having that capability is not a problem for me.
- Having hardware assisted AV1 looks like something it would be worth having being the coming standard.
- I’m not into gaming.
- I don’t have a 4k tv at the moment but I will upgrade before long. It will be LED as OLED seems an expense too far.
- I have a Yamaha sound bar and woofer and have no plans to change that so probably all the potential boxes/sticks are capable of driving it properly.
- I like to try many different apps for both video and tv streaming so space to hold them all is important.
- For VOD I prefer to download first so that I can immerse myself in the movie without the potential interruptions of buffering, so space is required for that, with 4k files often needing more space.
- I’m happy to store my movies on a large flash drive and have no need for Plex.
- I would like to minimise the amount of fiddling about with the system I have to do to get it to work as I want it to work.
- Finally technology changes over time and although I want a unit that gets updates it will become obsolete one day so should be no more expensive than it needs to be.
Looking at the available offerings I can see why none of the Firesticks meet my needs. The issue is the chronic lack of both RAM and storage. 2GB of Ram means that it is necessary, as Miki says, to disable bloatware and kill background apps from time to time to get the best streaming performance. Storage can be extended with an OTG and a flash drive but as Troy points out even on the Max model it is not particularly satisfactory. The size of a file that can be downloaded is limited to the amount of free space in the 8GB and although it is possible to force downloading to a flash drive (techdoctoruk) the download speeds are much reduced. And if you want to have extended internal storage and external storage on separate flash drives then probably a powered USB hub would be needed.
All these work-arounds arise because the Firestick is being used in a way it was not designed for. As a streaming device for a limited number of apps and no downloading, which is what it was designed for, it is superb and very cost-effective. What I want is a unit that will do what I want without all the hassle at an affordable price.
Clearly the Nvidia Shield Pro would do the job but it is expensive. Some posts have mentioned Mecool and Troy has given positive reviews on several models. Looking at the recently released KM7 it has 4GB RAM (more than NS’s 3GB, which seems a good thing) and a huge 64GB of storage which means I can download as many apps as I want without needing to offload them. There is also plenty of store for downloading movies and 2 USB 2.0 ports for Flash drives. AV1 is supported too. Probably the NS processor is faster but I have found no reports that suggest that the Mecool boxes lack performance.
The U.K. price for this is £63.36 but with the 10% Troypoint discount it woks out at £57, cheaper than a Firestick Max without having to buy an OTG cable and flash drive, and with hopefully much less hassle. The only downside is waiting for it to come!
I could have gone for a KM6 Delux for another £16 but I don’t need gigabyte ethernet or USB 3.0
I’ll let you all know how I get on. I’d like to emphasise that this is not meant to disrespect either Firesticks or NS - many people have them and are very satisfied. It is just that we all have different priorities.
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Where do we buy NS Pro and how do I know which one?
Bought mine in person at Best Buy. You can also buy online through Nvidia, Best Buy, Amazon, etc.
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That’s what I did, too. I like buying electronics from brick & mortar stores because if for whatever reason I decide to take it back, it’s a heck of a lot easier to do so. Besides, places like BB do price match.
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Well the part that irritates me about the shield is it doesn’t have the full google play store at least on the 2017 edition. For that price point I think you should have access to the full store but be that as it may I love my shield! It’s been my daily driver since day1!
What are you trying to download that is in the regular Play store that you can’t find on the Shield? I’m just curious.
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Well you can’t download browsers like chrome and Firefox. I get it you can side load these apps from a third party store but if the full play store was accessible you wouldn’t need to take that extra step.
That’s because they aren’t made for TV. They can be a pain in the a$$ to use. Silk or Puffin are better suited for TV applications.
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Any reason y’all can think of for buying a NS, if I get pretty good download speeds with my VPN on and don’t record anything, so storage isn’t a need, I just stream live sports and watch movies and TV shows?
Yes I have Puffin and it’s ok would love to get a duck duck go or brave browser to work on the shield.
Nope, don’t spend the extra money if you don’t need to. I love my shield, but I got it for different reasons. I have a 4K TV and a full surround sound system with ceiling speakers and all. I really needed a device that could passthrough TrueHD audio to my AVR. The firestick wouldn’t allow me to do that. I like the fact that I didn’t have to buy an OTG cable since there are already two USB ports and an ethernet port as well. But another big thing for me was the upscaling from 1080p to 4K. But if you don’t need those things, stick with what you need and not what you want.
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Thanks; I appreciate the honest feedback. I hope to upgrade my TV to 4k at some point, and I, a year ago, I just added a sound bar to my existing TV, so I’m not in a hurry as you can see to update, oh and $$$$ is a important thing too. I guess I’m sort of just a steamer and wanting the best hardware and things to run on it that I can afford to get the most seamless, best experience possible.
Any suggestions along those lines, and I realize it’s your opinion, so don’t worry about offending me, would be appreciated also.