[Bandalo76]

I've been running the OpenElec version of Kodi on an Intel NUC Haswell i3 box for about 2 years straight with no problems. About 95% of my use is streaming BluRay and DVD movies and shows from my NAS, so I've only got a 32GB SSD in the NUC, no local storage. I have it all hardwired with GbE, HDMI directly into my receiver, and using a Logitech Harmony remote for it all.

Until recently, I've been using the built-in SmartTV apps on my TV to play Netflix and Hulu and such. But my TV is getting old, and the interface for the apps is terrible and slow.

I've been reading reviews of some of the generic Android boxes with Kodi, and in particular the Nvidia Shield. Seems like it would do everything I use Kodi for currently, and add all the streaming apps and such into a much better interface. Seems like I might lose DTS for a short while, but it looks like they'll be adding support back in soon.

Am I missing anything? What will I lose by switching over from a dedicated box to an app? Is the Shield the best one out there right now?

[Tinwarble]

Well, to start the Shield ATV is not a generic Android box. Generic Android boxes run some sort or modified standard version of Android, as where the Shield runs Googles Android TV which is specifically designed for TVs.

Next, you won't lose DTS. Kodi has been able to pass-through both DTS and DD on the Shield since it's launch. What you will lose (until it's implemented in Kodi) is HD audio pass-through, DTS-HD/TrueHD. However, even if this is important to you, you can install a Jarvis nightly and ouput 8 channel LPCM and audibly you shouldn't notice any difference.

Now with that said, I have both the Shield and a Chromebox running OE (which for Kodi is no different than your NUC) and can say that I haven't even used my Chromebox for months. I really like the Shield and for my purposes it does everything I want it to do.

One thing that you might miss, but some thing that I don't currently use, is deinterlacing of live TV. It does do this but some people would like it to be better. Something else the Shield doesn't have is support for 3D MVC, but if you're like me and don't care about 3D then it's not going to affect you.

The only other things right now, that I can think of, is that the lastest FW update (2.0) broke color-spacing so that video in apps looks washed out. Kodi however doesn't seem affected (or is less affected) and even so Nvidia has stated they are working on a fix and if you were to order one now there should be a patch to fix this issue by the time you get yours or shortly after.

There is also a issue if you have a HDMI HDCP 2.2 compliant AVR and a non-HDCP 2.2 compliant TV. If your AVR is not 4K capable then you won't have to worry about this and even if it is and your TV isn't there are work-arounds. You can either rollback to a earlier FW (or not update to 2.0) and wait for a fix or use a non-HDCP 2.2 port on your AVR if it has one.

Nvidia has been pretty good about getting major bugs fixed pretty fast and although these issues exist it shouldn't be long before they get patched.

Other than that the only thing that I can tell you is to try it and see if you like it or not. Depending on were you order it from, if you don't like it you can always return it. But the easiest way to know (because everyone has there on opinions) is to use it yourself.

[Bandalo76]

Well, based on your input, and some of the other threads I've read here, I went ahead and ordered a Shield.

Thanks for the advice and the detailed info! I look forward to trying this beastie out next week.

[Lordkamelleon]

i am hoping to get the shield has well. i have been using a MINIX Neo Z64windows. its really not doing justice to my HD movie collections thru NAS. so i am hoping to upgrade to the shield. i would like to know , how does the shield perform with web view or web streaming. will i be able to stream video content on websites? i watch snapped and dateline TV shows on the web (couldn't find them on any of the video ad ons on Kodi)

Also, i am hoping the 16g version would be ok . i have more than 5000 movies collection thru NAS, will the meta data and addon data on kodi not fill it up or can kodi be moved to the SDcard?