Nvidia tries to get a jump on prospective Apple TV 4K buyers with $179 Shield TV

[AlTech]

Nvidia is trying to compete with Apple's recently announced 4K Apple TV. They're doing this by lowering the price of the Shield TV to just $179 USD.

 

To hit the $179 price point Nvidia has stuck with 16GB Storage and all the same hardware except it has ditched the game controller and gives users a remote.

 

Quote

The 4K version of the Apple TV comes out tomorrow. So to get a jump on prospective buyers, Nvidia is making an announcement about its own 4K streaming box today: it’s introducing a new configuration of the Shield TV that will sell for $179, the same price as Apple’s latest streaming box.

This isn’t a huge change for the Shield TV. The streaming box currently sells for $200 and includes a remote and a game controller, since the device is also meant to be used to play games. The new configuration of the Shield TV includes the same amount of storage, 16GB, but it won’t come bundled with a game controller — just a remote.

 

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That means Nvidia is squarely targeting the streaming crowd here. It’s not a bad idea for a device that supports 4K HDR, but that just isn’t what the product is best for. In his review last year, my colleague Dan Seifert wrote that the Shield TV is “best for gamers,” and that if you’re not interested in gaming, “you’re better off saving money and going with an Amazon Fire TV or Roku Ultra.”

 

I think Nvidia just needs to stop with the Maxwell based Tegra X1 based designs. They need a new chip if they actually want people to go start buying their set top box. Especially when Apple put the A10X chip in the 4K Apple TV.

 

Source:

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/9/21/16341520/nvidia-shield-tv-price-drop-179-apple-tv-4k

[AlTech]

Just now, VegetableStu said:

Is the Shield TV compatible with most gaming controllers (e.g. Xbox, PS)? o_o

I think so for the Xbox Controller. Don't know about the PS controllers.

[Skanky Sylveon]

I want another shield portable, I loved using it while lying in bed.  

20 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

To hit the $179 price point Nvidia has stuck with 16GB Storage and all the same hardware except it has ditched the game controller and gives users a remote.

 

I would rather just pay more for the controller.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, Cinnabar Sonar said:

I want another shield portable, I loved using it while lying in bed.  

I would rather just pay more for the controller.

The controller can be purchased separately and users can still purchase the $200 Shield TV which includes the remote, controller and the set top box itself.

[Skanky Sylveon]

8 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

The controller can be purchased separately and users can still purchase the $200 Shield TV which includes the remote, controller and the set top box itself.

I know, what I meant was I would rather pay more for the configuration that has the controller.

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear.

[FloRolf]

Wait Wat? 

They lower price from 200€ to 179€ but don't I clue the 50€ controller anymore? 

Thats straight up scam. 

[matrix07012]

1 hour ago, Cinnabar Sonar said:

I want another shield portable, I loved using it while lying in bed.  

*cough* *cough* GPD Win *cough*

or wait for the GPD Win 2.

[Skanky Sylveon]

3 minutes ago, matrix07012 said:

*cough* *cough* GPD Win *cough*

or wait for the GPD Win 2.

Gotta keep that in mind.

[paddy-stone]

Well, yes it would be better if nvidia made a new chip to go in devices like these. But considering the current chip does everything it's supposed to do.. and very well might I add, then there's really no reason for them to do so at the minute. I have a first gen Nvidia TV and it still rocks hard.

I use mine mostly for plex, and it really is a lovely experience, I prefer it to kodi now as kodi has some weird bugs with the framerate when playing back 25/50Hz media, when set to auto change from 24Hz - it looks like it's dropping frames massively, so the video appears juddery when panning across. I could change the resolution etc manually, but this is an added annoyance when all you want to do is play your media... so I switched to using plex instead.

Plex does not have this bug and plays everything flawlessly at the correct framrate and resolution with no problems, it also auto transcodes the dts audio as I don't have my soundbar hooked up to the shield, so doesn't have capable audio to play dts.

 

Anyway, back to topic.. the shield is a VERY capable machine... I think it can also be used to game stream from a capable PC with nvidia GPU.