Android - nVidia Shield TV (2015 & 2017 Models) - UPDATED: Jun 9, 2017

The Nvidia Shield TV, aka SATV & nSATV, is an Android TV (Googles modified version of Android for use in the 10’ living space) device using Nvidias own X1 SoC (System on Chip) which was launched in May of 2015.

The SATV comes in 2 models, a 16GB model which can be expanded with external storage (if you adopt the storage) and a 500GB (Pro) model which uses a SHDD for its internal storage.

In Jan. of 2017 Nvidia relaunched the Shield with nearly the same specs as the original model, less an IR receiver, SD Card slot & micro-USB port, as well as being a smaller size for the 16GB model. The 2017 Pro model of the SATV has the same exact specifications as the 2015 model but comes with an updated game controller & remote. Both the 2017
16GB & Pro models come with a game controller and remote, unlike the 2015 model which only came with a controller.


NOTE: The Shield Hub row is no more, even for the 2015 Shields. If you still see the Shield Games and Before Now banner in the same place as they have been this will change in the next few weeks as they are doing a slow roll-out of Nvidia Games app update which will now be in the Games row.
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ADDITIONAL LINKS

For non Kodi discussions about the Shield please see the nVidia GeForce forums.

For Kodi on Android discussions related to the Shield see HERE

Old thread for the Shield TV: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=220297

Increasing your storage in Android 7.0 Nougat

Troubleshooting SHIELD Remote Issues: Low Battery Warning/Performance

Recommended USB Flash drives for SHIELD TV (for adopted storage)

SHIELD Experience Upgrade 5.0 Feedback Thread (1/16/17)

SHIELD Experience Upgrade 5.0.1 Announcement (1/18/17)
Fixes several issues.

SHIELD (2015) Experience Upgrade 5.0.2 Announcement (1/26/17)

SHIELD Experience Upgrade 5.1 Announcement (2/17/17)

SHIELD Experience Upgrade 5.2: FAQ & SHIELD Experience Upgrade 5.2 for SHIELD TV

Replacement batteries for 2017 remote

Signups for the SHIELD TV Experience Preview Program (requires a GeForce forum account)
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TIPS & TRICKS

• You can access the Recent apps menu by double tapping the Home button. This will allow you to quickly switch between apps you have recently used.

• PIP (Picture in Picture) – This allows videos to play in a small window in the upper right hand corner of your screen while you navigate through a menu, Leanback Launcher or other apps. However, to use this feature apps have to support it (currently the only one I’ve seen that does so is Live Channels, though there maybe others). Also, you cannot use PIP while a 2nd videos is playing. If you start another video while using PIP it will close. To activate PIP in Live Channels, launch it then pull up the menu by pressing the select button on the remote, “A” on the controller (considering you have Live Channels setup already) scroll to the second row and select PIP.
  
  UPDATE: According to reports, Youtube will be adding PIP support in a future update: http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/01/27/...-teardown/

• Remote doesn’t update. If this happens and you get an error message when trying to update the remotes firmware, first reboot your Shield (may not be necessary) then go into Shield Accessories and forget the remote. Re-pair the remote then attempt the update again.

• Writing to external storage. Although storage permissions are the same as in previous Android versions, now write access is less intrusive than before. Now the only requirement to get full access to a drive is to “Allow” access via a pop-up window when attempting to write to external storage. This still requires that the app asks for permission, something Kodi does not do, but no longer requires going out of the app to set the permission. Allowing the app to write to the external storage is something that you should only have to do once, since after you grant it permission it will not ask again. NOTE: This has not been fully tested and it is unknown what will happen if you eject the drive then plug it back in.
  See also: External Storage in 2nd post

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KNOWN ISSUES

• (2017-01-20 20:54)wesk05 Wrote:  If you have the Shield connected to a newer AVR with HDMI 2.0/HDCP 2.2 port and then have the AVR connected to a HDMI/HDCP 1.4 display, Kodi/SPCM/Plex/Archos Video/ViMu Media Player or any other app that supports refresh rate switching will not be able to switch the refresh rate. The refresh rate will remain on whatever you have set in "Display & Sound". With update 5.0 there is an additional bug: you can't even change the refresh rate or color space manually.

• There is an issue if you have frame rate switching and audio pass-through enabled which may cause stuttering or lose of audio. If you encounter this set the playback delay in Kodi/SPMC to 2.5 seconds. The 2.5 sec delay should work for most users, however, it may require more or less time depending on your specific setup.
  
  In Kodi go to - Settings > System > Display > Delay after change of refresh rate
  In SPMC go to - Settings > Video > Playback > Pause during refresh rate change

• It is NOT possible to write to mounted NASs. There is limited write capabilities with 5.2, however, this appears to limited to Plex as of now. Kodi should be added to the white list so that it too can write to mounted NASs, but this will not come until a later update.
• If you mount a NAS you will lose the ability to write/delete to attached (non-adopted) storage. (fixed in 5.2)

• Deinterlacing live TV content is broken with Kodi. It's recommend to use the Live Channels app for OTA streams, see the second post for more info. If you're seeing issue with Live TV you can try this build to see if it fix your issues: http://www.mediafire.com/file/8c74owact4...bi-v7a.apk (Based on Kodi 17.1)

• Voluntary Recall of European plug heads for NVIDIA SHIELD AC Wall Adapters
  
  

  Quote:NVIDIA has announced the voluntary recall of certain plug heads for SHIELD AC wall adapters designed for use in continental Europe, which the company will replace. The affected product shipped with SHIELD World Charger Kit, and European SHIELD tablets and SHIELD TVs between July 2014 and May 2017. NVIDIA has determined that the two-prong European plug head may break, posing a risk of electrical shock.
  
  NVIDIA is asking customers to visit http://www.nvidia.com/support/adapterrecall for information on how to obtain a replacement European plug head.
  
  The recall does not affect any other NVIDIA products.

RANDOM NOTES

• Controller (2017 model)
  The game controller does not need to be "on" to use the hands-free voice commands. The controller features an ultra-low power mode when not in use which allows it be an "always listening" device. This can be toggled on and off via a setting at the bottom of the home screen.
  
  Controller breakdown and review: https://www.slashgear.com/nvidia-shield-...-16471979/

• nVidia Spot (unreleased)
  The Spot is an add-on peripheral that contains a mic and speaker and plugs directly in to a wall outlet. The Spot along with Google Assistant will allow you to turn your Shield in "always listening" smart home device and personal assistant, similar to a Google Home. How or if it will allow you to control Kodi through voice commands is unknown as the Spot is not released and isn't due out until later this year.

• Adopted Storage
  Adopted storage, also referred to as expanded storage, is a Android 6.x and above feature that allows you to connect external storage and adopt it as internal storage thereby expanding the capacity of the internal storage. This will allow you to install more apps than you normally would be able to with the limited storage that comes with the 16GB model (this should NOT be used with the Pro). It will also allow you to have a much larger library with Kodi without the concern of running out of storage space. To avoid slow downs, adopted storage should at least be rated 60MB read and 30MB write, though 90/40MB is recommended.
  NOTE: Because of where the Plex Media Server (PMS) stores its data, you will not be able to move it to the adopted storage.
  Therefore your PMS data will continue to use the real internal storage for data.
  
  Keep in mind before using Adopted Storage, that once you adopt it that storage becomes useless for anything else since gets encrypted and becomes apart of the internal storage. You will not be able to connect it to your PC and modify it's contents and if you reset your Shield it will become useless until you reformat.

• External Storage (non-adopted) -- Changed with the 5.0 update - see Update.
  The Shield is compatible with FAT32, exFAT, NTFS & HFS+ formatted storage, and most drives should work. There are, however, limitations with using external storage on Android, the major being that apps (by default) only have permission to write/delete files in their own app folder on the drive. When you plug in your storage Android will create a "Android" folder, as well as a sub-folder "data" and when you launch an app (the storage has to be connected) it will create its folder there.
  
  So for Kodi, it can only full manage the files in /your_storage/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/. This goes for any other app and for managing files over SMB from a PC, in which case you can only write/delete files in /your_storage/Android/data/com.plexapp.mediaserver.smb/
  
  There is an exception to this limitation, which is the app asks for full permission to other folders or the root of the storage, something Kodi does not do.
  
  UPDATE: A user on the Geforce forums HERE discovered this.
  
  Now, although you still can not write to the root of external storage devices without an app being granted permission, you can write to a new folder that will be created on your drive called /NVIDIA_SHIELD. All apps will have full permissions in this folder including Kodi/SPMC and over SMB.
  
  NOTE: If you are accessing your Shield from a PC, a external drive my appear as having root access. However, in reality it is only access to the NVIDIA_SHIELD folder. If you think that you are in the root of the external storage and are able to write to it over SMB then you need to check with a file browser on your Shield since the files will have most likely been written to the NVIDIA_SHIELD folder and not the root of the drive.

• Direct connecting the Shield to a PC via USB
  The 2017 16GB Shield no longer has a micro-USB port, however you can still connect your PC to it via USB. This requires a USB type A to USB type A cable or an adapter, and has to be connected to the USB port closest to the fan grill. Then navigate to Settings > Storage and Reset and select "Using USB" under "Shield Storage access".

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OTA/LIVE TV STREAMING & DVR/PVR
NOTE: Currently, hardware deinterlacing is broken for Kodi and it is not recommended. For OTA/Live TV use the Live Channels app which will provide property deinterlacing or for HDHR tuners the HDHomeRun app.

There are currently 3 ways to add OTA sources to the Live Channels app.

• 1. TVHeadEnd Live Channels beta (link below) - This will allow you to add your TVHeadEnd backend as a channel source. The downside to this is that there is no DVR/PVR capabilities (should get added at some point) and although Timeshifting has been added in the recent v0.3.7 update, it is in the early stages of development and only sort of works.
• 2. HDHomeRun app - Works well as a standalone app or added as a channel source for the Live Channels app. The downside to the this is that for expanded EPG data and DVR you have to use their paid service. As well, you have to use the HDHR app for DVR.
• 3. Network TV Tuner beta (requires HDHR tuner, Android 7.x+ & currently only available in the U.S. market) - This is built into the Live Channels app and is a result of the collaboration between Google & Silicondust. It works for live streaming, timeshifting & DVR. The downside to this is, it requires adopted storage for the DVR feature on 16GB models (recordings can not be saved to user defined storage & is only stored on internal/adopted storage). As well, users may find that the wrong EPG data is scrapped for their channels and users with connected devices that don't support AC3 decoding will most likely not get audio for channels with Dolby Digital.
  
  
  SUPPORTED USB TUNERS
  • Tablo Tuner coming Q2 2017 (may require Tablos software?)
  • Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD (ATSC /QAM/DVB-C/DVB-T/DVB-T2)
  • AVerMedia AVerTV Volar Hybrid Q (ATSC /QAM)
  
  

  ManuelGuzman Wrote:In the coming months we will add support for some single and dual USB tuners (single for Android N DVR, dual for Plex/Tablo).

  
  SUPPORTED EXTERNAL TUNERS- for Live Channels DVR/Timshifting
  • HDHomeRun (CONNECT, EXTEND, or PRIME). See here for more info: https://forum.silicondust.com/forum/view...16&t=64178
    
  LIVE TV - OTHER
  • TVHeadEnd backend for Android TV - tested and working.
  • TVHeadEnd Live Channels beta - allows you to add TVHeadEnd channels into the Live Channels app

Nice update my friend, I knew you would be all over it sooner rather than later !

Known Ongoing HDCP 2.2 Issues

(2017-01-17 01:11)wesk05 Wrote:  It looks like folks with newer HDMI 2.0 AVRs (HDCP 2.2 HDMI port) connected to HDMI 1.4 TVs will be in for a surprise. Not only has the refresh rate switching bug not fixed, you can't even change the refresh rate or color space in such configuration. It seems to falls back to RGB 1080p59.94Hz.

Thanks wrxtasy, still got somethings to add since I just received some updated info tonight.

There has been some discussion that the 2017 16gb version lacks an ir receiver. Does anyone have any info?

sent from my mobile phone, i apologise for any spelling errors

Yes, it does NOT have an IR receiver, it's stated in the description at the top of the OP. The remote and controller have IR blasters, but that's so that you can control your TV.

Have anyone from Nvidia confirmed that they will definitely officially release Android TV 7.0 for the 2015 Nvidia Shield TV?

Also, if so and since hardware is very similar will you just continue using same Nvidia_SHIELD_Android_TV (wiki) article?

Yes, they will: http://shield.nvidia.com/support/nvidia-...ease-notes

Yes, it has been officially confirmed that the older Shields will get the Nougat update.

Yes, there is no need for a new wiki page. However, it does need updating and I will try to get around to doing that in the next couple of weeks. But since the wiki is community driven, anyone that wants to can make the necessary changes to the wiki page.

Is it confirmed that the 2017 Shield TV Pro will still use an SSHD? And can we easily replace the drive this time?

So does the new combination of Android 7 and shield experience 5 restore 4K 10bit 24hz playback or does it still. Switch to 8bit rgb?

(2017-01-16 05:54)Tinwarble Wrote:  Snip
NOTE: Because of where the Plex Media Server (PMS) stores its data, you will not be able to move it to the adopted storage.
Therefore your PMS data will continue to use the real internal storage for both data and transcoding.
Snip

I thought I read on the Geforce forums that adopted storage could be used for transcoded files, but not data?

(2017-01-16 11:11)DaMacFunkin Wrote:  So does the new combination of Android 7 and shield experience 5 restore 4K 10bit 24hz playback or does it still. Switch to 8bit rgb?

+1

Regarding HDMI CEC function? Is it all ok?
Switching on the Shield (through AVR), TV switch on and switch on right HDMI input?

Regarding not supported files, which are ones not supported?

Regarding PQ, is it comparable to (at least) Zidoo X9S/Himedia Q5 Pro and Popcorn A-500?

Thanks in advance for answering

(2017-01-16 10:12)badbadbad Wrote:  Is it confirmed that the 2017 Shield TV Pro will still use an SSHD? And can we easily replace the drive this time?

The Pro is the exact same model, there's been hardware changes to it. And it's never going to be easy to swap out the drive, Android is not Windows.

(2017-01-16 12:40)tredman Wrote:  I thought I read on the Geforce forums that adopted storage could be used for transcoded files, but not data?

Quote:HOW SHOULD I SET UP MY SHIELD TO GET THE BEST PLEX MEDIA SERVER PERFORMANCE?

For the best media server performance, it’s recommended to use an Ethernet connection between your SHIELD and your router. Also, if you are mounting a NAS to SHIELD, it’s recommended to use an Ethernet connection between your NAS and your router. This configuration will provide the maximum available bandwidth for your Wi-Fi network for serving content to your mobile devices.

Plex also recommends that you maintain sufficient free space on your internal storage for video transcoding, roughly equal to the size of the source file of the transcode (this can average around 4-5GB for a full length HD movie).

(2017-01-16 16:27)Tinwarble Wrote:  

(2017-01-16 10:12)badbadbad Wrote:  Is it confirmed that the 2017 Shield TV Pro will still use an SSHD? And can we easily replace the drive this time?

The Pro is the exact same model, there's been hardware changes to it. And it's never going to be easy to swap out the drive, Android is not Windows.

(2017-01-16 12:40)tredman Wrote:  I thought I read on the Geforce forums that adopted storage could be used for transcoded files, but not data?

Quote:HOW SHOULD I SET UP MY SHIELD TO GET THE BEST PLEX MEDIA SERVER PERFORMANCE?

For the best media server performance, it’s recommended to use an Ethernet connection between your SHIELD and your router. Also, if you are mounting a NAS to SHIELD, it’s recommended to use an Ethernet connection between your NAS and your router. This configuration will provide the maximum available bandwidth for your Wi-Fi network for serving content to your mobile devices.

Plex also recommends that you maintain sufficient free space on your internal storage for video transcoding, roughly equal to the size of the source file of the transcode (this can average around 4-5GB for a full length HD movie).

Transcoding vs transcoded - if i understand it correctly once files are transcoded (or optimised in plex speak) for plex sync they are stored on the adopted storage once the transcoding is complete.

I'm just clearing a USB drive to test this out myself and confirm