I just picked up a Shield a few weeks ago. One of the best purchases I've ever made. Definitely a convert to Android TV and convinced one of my friends to buy one too... But why aren't there more standalone models out there? I want to get Android TV for my gf but a Shield is overkill considering she won't game and it's $289 in Canada, there are no Nexus Players anywhere within 100s of km from me... All can find are Chinese boxes.
Because the standalone units haven't sold particularly well, for various reasons.
Although there are a very large number of TVs being sold with AndroidTV functionality built into them now.
Applications, applications, applications.
There simply aren't that many of them. Ditto for games, worse many of the games that do exist are quick and dirty ports of touch based games which causes issues when translated to a gamepad or remote interface.
So people are checking the ecosystem and deciding to pass because what they want doesn't exist there. :(
For many people, Chromecast is 'good enough'. There isn't a compelling reason to get a more fully featured (and generally more expensive) solution like Android TV.
You can sell standalone fully featured streaming boxes - Amazon has sold lots of FireTVs and Roku seems to do OK - but when the Chromecast is so successful and cheap most people don't see the value in getting a more upscale Google AV product.
AndroidTV is a solution looking for a problem. If they had simply put Leanback Launcher on top of stock Android it would have been fine. Instead they have created this mess.
Apps are arbitrarily incompatible for no reason. Physical keyboard support for non-US layouts has been removed. If you get a cheap Chinese box with stock Android and the custom launchers that come with them you get more for less money. Hardware does mostly suck due to them being underpowered but they run all apps. With the occasional need to emulate on-screen-controls.
The Minix box I had previously was very nice but the SoC was not powerful enough for Hearthstone...
Google must be working on 2nd gen Nexus Player as the 1st gen is being sold at very marginal price range. I even got one for $25 at local Walmart store couple days ago.