Shield TV v2 ?

by zerostyle

Hi all,

I'm looking to update an aging WDTV live, and was considering the nvidia shield since it's one of the few devices that support full 4k netflix certification.

I had a few questions, though:

  1. Shield TV is now nearly a year old - have they made any announcements about a new model coming out soon?

  2. Does Shield TV support NTFS on USB drives for local playback? (A quick google search indicates yes, but sometimes support can be flakey)

Basically, I'm looking to cover this checklist:

  • [ ] Netflix full 4k support
  • [ ] NTFS USB playback
  • [ ] Reasonable codec support (mp4/mkv)
  • [ ] Hardware HEVC decoding

Nice to have:

  • [ ] Easy youtube playback (can I setup a playlist on my laptop to access here? I hate using non-keyboards)
  • [ ] Spotify
  • [ ] Pandora
  • [ ] Apple AirPlay support
JimboLodisC

Probably not until NVIDIA makes a better mobile chip. It's already running their best one.

Andrroid
  • Netflix full 4k support
  • NTFS USB playback
  • Reasonable codec support (mp4/mkv)
  • Hardware HEVC decoding

All of these are covered. The Shield is in a pretty future proof spot right now; I don't see a new version coming out for some time, likely not until they want to showcase a new chip or enough new codecs/protocols come out to warrant a new one.

pokes135

I don't expect you would regret the Shield. Got mine last week, worth every penny IMO. Biggest problem now is the fact it's also a gaming console, the kids take over the tv lol.

I got over $40 by selling my WDTV live on ebay. Not sure why there is a market at that price, but that helps budget the Shield TV.

msw141

i think it checks all your boxes. Kodi has a setting for airplay support, but i've not been able to get it to work. I am 100% certain that its etiher Apple not wanting people to enjoy its products how they want or i'm a complete idiot--but not a problem with Kodi or Shield TV. Get it, it's well worth it.

OssotSromo

The wdtv is a pile of shit. Literally the worst device one could own. You could buy a Chinese knockoff, put an HDmi cable on it, and it would be better.

If you were happy with that, I don't know how you could possibly be disappointed with the unopposed king of streaming devices.

cloudedthoughtz

On question 1; I don't believe so. Aside from that, I don't think there is any major improvement they can do for the Shield TV that will clearly set it apart from the current model. They haven't even gotten all the potential out of the current model tbh. I think that an eventual updated model will take at least another year.

But obviously I do not own a working crystal ball for accurate prophecies and such :P

shatheid

I'd snag it. Any other box you buy will need upgraded in the future before the Shield will. I forget the specifics, but its something about the HDMI certification and the type of 4k. Its a level or two above the newest Roku & Apple products (someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I'm going off memory from months ago when I bought mine).

It has all of your must-haves, and I know that it has a Pandora app. Not sure about Spotify as I haven't tried it.

I'm sure you could log into your youtube account and play playlists, but haven't tried it. You can however cast to it, as I've done that a few times (Casting is built into the Shield if you weren't aware).

And as for airplay, apparently yes, but you need an app for it per this post

edit: Mine is using two NTFS drives with no issue. But, I've also seen others say that its a problem. One fix I saw for someones issue with a hdd, was reformatting the drive that the person was using right out of the box. Some drives come with a small partition for backup, etc...and apparently the Shield can only pickup the first partition on a drive. So, it made it look like nothing was there.

edit2: If you hate using "non-keyboards" you can just get a small usb or bluetooth keyboard and use it with the Shield. It'll be plug & play.