Honestly, for running jellyfin/emby/plex, there's nothing better. The only thing an update might get you would be higher refresh rates or maybe 8k support, but for watching video, who cares?

Once I disabled the built-in "leanback" launcher with its fucking toxic ads and replaced it with flauncher, it's been essentially perfect for watching media. flauncher is fugly as hell but it stays out of my face, unlike google's ad-focused launcher.

Nvidia has all but backed out of the mobile chip market, and those chips are what this line used. So that's why we haven't seen any updates in years. But the good news is they have made a new chip for Nintendo's next-gen switch coming out sometime next year. So within a year of that coming out, I would expect to finally see a new Shield or Nvidia TV or whatever they call it, using a similar chip to what goes in the Switch 2

Had this question like 2 years ago, thinking it was due for an upgrade... At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they never release another.

I think it supports pretty much everything you might want in a device already.

Happy birthday :)

I bought the Nokia 8010 TV box instead of the shield. I do not know if it's available in your country. Why? Cheaper and same ish enough.

I like it but "like" is all there is. I do not love it. As most android boxes it is not 100% stable and needs a reboot after a week or so.

I red in several forums the nvidia shield has the same problem.

Tbh the appletv is the wise choice. Stable, more apps, better ecosystem, better soc, more storage. Plex also works on it.

I couldn't use it unfortunately because my Atmos setup is not arc 2.0 and the appletv only does uncompressed atmos. With arc 1.x atmos it's only possible to send atmos compressed over dolby digital plus.

AI upscale is not worth it in my opinion unless you watch old blueray rips since compression algorithms would make upscaling worse in some cases.

I have Apple tv and linux pc for my 2 tvs.

If Apple tv cover your needs then go for it. I got it used in 2017 (I believe gen 3) and still butter smooth to this day.

Despite being 4 years old it's still one of the better options, though with caveats. The one thing that it has that nothing else really has is real time AI upscaling. I've stopped using my Shield, and went back to using Roku boxes and Raspberry Pi 4B's... so it's hard for me to really recommend the Shield.

Nvidia has pretty much abandoned GeForce Experience, so despite this being a selling point for the device, you'd be happier using Moonlight + Sunshine even if you did buy a Shield. The Nvidia Shield also has terrible input lag for bluetooth controllers. I think this because of how Android blocks direct access to hardware, and so it introduces input lag. So if you actually want to use GeForce Experience, it means you'd have to buy and 8bitdo USB stick, or pay for VirtualHere to fix the controller problem. I personally setup a Raspberry Pi 4B with Moonlight and I'm much happier with that.

For Plex, I'd be hesitant. Over on Reddit I keep reading about how people have attempted using the Shield to run their home media, and it's usually followed with regret. I didn't get into streaming locally until after I stopped using my Shield, though so I can't personally attest to that. Instead, I'm using a second Pi to run a NAS and Jellyfin... and again, the Shield might be preferable if you want everything in one unit.

So, I can't exactly recommend the Nvidia Shield... but at the same time I don't think most people would have the time to build their own Raspberry Pi based solutions either.

I have one and it is pretty amazing, but it sucks for Kodi from time to time, usually a reboot fixes all the annoyances... But I don't like that workaround.

My unit was downgraded to 8.2.3 and debloated for the sake of a better performance.

I have the OG Shield Pro, with an additional remote, the most recebt one.

Besides changing the inner HDD for a SSD, it does all I need.

Sure, it doesn't support the HDMI 2.1 that my TV does, but I don't need that for what the Shield does for me (YouTube, Netflix and Plex playback).

In my experience the WiFi modem in this thing is shit.

IMO nothing beats the Nvidia TV and I've tried just about everything. Heck, I'm still rocking a 2017 on my main TV (lacks Dolby Vision/Atmos and AI Upscaling but is otherwise fine).

The non-Pro seems to have issues that affect 4k decoding in plex but never seen similar issues on a Pro (I think packing the internals into that small tube was a mistake, and it's overheating, but that's just a guess).

There's some hope Nvidia will come out with a next gen but people have been hoping (and spreading rumours about) that for years.. until there's an official announcement I wouldn't expect it. They continue to support software upgrades though.

I am using a Chromecast 4k and I am quite happy with it .. what would the shield accomplish better ?

Imo, it'll take 1-3 more birthdays until a new one comes out. Is there anything specific you'd want them to upgrade? The only clear thing they're missing right now is av1 support. Given that it's still the best player on the market, I'd say go ahead and get it. Maybe try to find one second hand to save a buck, that's what I did earlier this year 🙂.

I love my shield, so while ot is rather expensive and it seems like there won't be future models, I still would have bought it.

Pi4 and Kodi in the form of OSMC or Libreelec is cheaper and IMO better

Nvidia has pretty much dropped this. I don't forsee another version in the next three years. I don't see anything you listed that wouldn't be a good reason to go for the regular shield though and save some money. It's still a good product. I would buy now.