New NVIDIA Shield TV 2019 Review

- So what is there to say about the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV box that I haven't already said over the past five years? It is still the only Android TV box you should by. It can stream just about any video you wanna stream. It can act as a local media server, and yeah, it can play all kinds of games on it.

All right, so what's going on here? What's up with the new SHIELDs? There are two of 'em. One of 'em's shaped like a tube, and it's got a triangular remote control. That's really, really weird, but that's what new. Which one should you get? Well, I've got a full review up on CordCutters.com.

Go check that out, but for now, let's go dive into it more right here. All right, so here we have the new NVIDIA SHIELD TV system. So they are still called SHIELD TV and SHIELD TV Pro. Yeah, the non-Pro one is, in fact, shaped like a tube, and the Pro looks exactly like the old NVIDIA SHIELD.

In fact, this one you see here is the old one. I didn't bother getting it. I just got myself the tube, but again, the new Pro has the exact same look and features. So what's new in 2019? Well, three things really. The first is a new and better processor, and it's 25% more powerful, which leads directly into the second thing, and that is some really interesting 4K upscaling via artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Thing number three, an all-new and much better remote control. Now first, the processor, and it still has an NVIDIA Tegra X1, but now, it's the X1+. NVIDIA says it's 25% more powerful, and it has 256 GPU cores if you're counting. Now, the 20% more processing power is actually really important 'cause it leads directly into thing number two, and that is the enhanced 4K upscaling.

So what is all that, and why should you care? Well, it's what lets the NVIDIA SHIELD do real-time artificial intelligence enhancement of 4K upscaling. 'Kay, what does that mean, and why should you care? Here's the deal. Most of what you watch on TV now is not natively 4K.

It's shot at a lower resolution, and maybe it's upscaled to 4K resolution on your 4K TV. That's especially true if it's live sports, right? The TVs usually do a pretty good of this, but it's still not the same as native 4K. Now, what SHIELD does here is a couple things actually.

Now, it still has your basic upscaling, which is fine, but then, the SHIELD says, "Hey, if the content that's coming into me "is at 720p or at 1080p and at 30 frames per second, "we're gonna kick in this cool neural net "AI machine learning core and enhance things!" So basically, what NVIDIA did was it took the video and took it offline and said, "Here's what lower resolution content looks like, "and here's what it looks like in its native 4K, "and you, artificial intelligence, "figure out the difference "and figure out how to apply that to the lower resolution "so that when we upscale it, it looks better." In English, it kinda makes it look sharper and you get more details, and that's the computer figuring out how to do it, and yeah, you can tell the difference.

Now, it helps a little bit to know that it's there in the first place, right? If I didn't tell you, if you didn't know it going into this thing, you might not be able to see the difference, but NVIDIA's done a really cool thing here. They've left in some of their internal tools that you can use when you buy this to see the difference.

You can see it side by side. They got a cool little swiper thing, or you can just turn it off and on. So you can switch between the basic upscaling and the enhanced AI upscaling and really see the difference there. It's pretty neat. Now, not everything you watch is going to be enhanced by artificial intelligence to the new fancy 4K stuff.

It's just the way it is, and to be honest, I really wouldn't worry about it that much. Just sit back and enjoy what it is you're watching knowing that it looks a little better. Ah, yeah, I get a little excited about that anytime I get to say artificial intelligence-enhanced 'cause it means nothing, but whatever.

That's the first two big things, the processor and the upscaling. The third big thing, and this may well be my favorite, is the new remote control. Now, I don't know about you, but for me, the last remote, it was just too damn small. I was losing it all over the place.

In fact, as I'm recording this right now, there is still a SHIELD remote control hidden somewhere in this room. I have no idea. I can't find it. Now, the new remote is decidedly larger. It's shaped like a rounded triangle, and it's definitely more comfortable to hold, and now, it uses a couple of AAA batteries, so you don't have to worry about recharging it.

NVIDIA says the batteries should last you about six months or so before you have to change 'em, and the buttons are backlit, which is really nice, and this top one here is customizable in the settings. It's very cool. The whole thing connects via Bluetooth, and it also has infrared built in so you can control your TV volume much easier as in it actually works this time, 'cause CC actually kinda sucks for that, and yeah, now it has proper volume buttons.

Now speaking of lost remotes, there's also a new Find my remote feature here. Love it, so if you do manage to lose your remote, you can just use the new SHIELD app on your phone to find it, or if you've got a Google Home or wanna do it through your phone, you can just talk to it and have Google Assistant find your remote for you.

So all those things, yeah, very big improvements. Oh, by the way, because you're gonna ask, yes, even if you have an older SHIELD, you can buy this remote at some point, not initially, for about $30, and it will work with your existing SHIELD box. So what about game controllers, also a big part of the SHIELD experience? Well, the previous generation of NVIDIA controllers themselves will work as will anything from Microsoft or Logitech or whoever you like, right? There just isn't a new one here, and that's fine.

Your old one will work great. All right, one more thing we need to talk about because yeah, there are two SHIELDs here now, right? So first, there's the regular. It's just called NVIDIA SHIELD TV. It's shaped like a tube, and the idea is that you can just kinda hide it wherever you want, behind your TV and out of sight.

On the other hand, you can do that with the other SHIELD. Anyway, that's what they were thinking, and no, the tube is not a dongle. It doesn't dongle, it doesn't dangle, and it's not a stick. It's a tube. It's got the better remote. It's got Ethernet.

It's got the power obviously. It's got microSD. That's still there, and it'll play games just fine, and it now also has Dolby Atmos for audio. That was absolutely missing from SHIELD in previous generations. Good to see it here. Now, the tube is $150, and you will find everything on the tube also on the Pro.

Now the $200 SHIELD Pro, that's really more for the enthusiasts who wanna do things like AAA gaming, you know, the really hardcore games, and so, it has an extra gigabyte of RAM, three gigs instead of two. It's got more onboard storage than the tube, all right? It's got 16 gigs instead of eight, and it has a pair of USB ports in the back so you can still plug in your Samsung SmartThings Hub.

You can connect cameras or lights, whatever you wanna plug in there, external storage. This is the one you're gonna need to get if you still wanna run a Plex server, that sorta thing. Just because somebody's gonna ask, yes, you can play "Fortnite" on the cheaper tube.

So look at it like this, all right? If you all you want is streaming video and, you know, basic Android TV stuff and you don't need the hardcore, hardcore games or you're not gonna be running a Plex server, get the $150 tube. That's what I'd do. If you're gonna run Plex and you wanna run SmartThings, then pay the extra 50 bucks.

Get beefier hardware. Get the Pro. So that's it for the NVIDIA SHIELD tube and the NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro. On one hand, there's not a lot different, right? It's still NVIDIA SHIELD TV. Works exactly the same as it did in the previous generation once it was upgraded to Android Pie, but on the other hand, we've got this new, really cool AI upscaling stuff, brand-new remote control.