New Shield user

by Hudson0804

Hello folks, a while ago i had a discussion here on what to replace my ageing android box with.

The resounding response was the nvidia shield.

With my birthday just around the corner I placed it on my wish list and waited.

Yesterday I arrived form work to find my new shield and the Last Jedi sitting on the coffee table (best girlfriend ever).

Like a child i quickly unboxed plugged in and switched on my new Android TV box, after a few moments of config it was loaded.

Holy shit this is a piece of kit, comparing response times on my old android box the shield is Usain Bolt quick. I had kodi, iptv and netflix setup in zero time.

Which leads me to my question, what else should i be doing with this beast of an adroid tv box.

H.

PS - thanks to u/FezVrasta u/JimboLodisC u/brp u/CaptZ_3148 u/-Level_Phenomenon- u/dookiewater and all the other people who told me with no uncertainty a shield is the way to

BiffBiffkenson

You can side load an app called 'set orientation' that does a good job of making not made for android tv apps load to landscape mode if they work at all. Some side loaded apps will require a mouse to function. 2 examples of that are I have WatchTCM sideloaded that loads a phone screen w/o set orientation (also needs a mouse) and I have TubiTV sideloaded and a mouse is necessary to make it functional.

Most android based browsers will work but only the Yandex knockoff of Chrome and Firefox allow extensions which imo are necessary for security.

If an app gets glitchy it usually needs the cache cleared in settings. I've been looking for an app that will let me clear cache only on specified programs all at once as that would seem like a function that does no harm but may prevent a headache. No luck so far - they all seem to want to do it automatically as if that's a desirable feature to me it's not. Two of them deleted files I did not want touched but I have everything backed up.

Right off I bought a cheap usb hub for more inputs and bought a $2 file manager - solid explorer - which was intuitive imo and worked well with a mouse.

JimboLodisC

I use it for YouTube, Plex, Netflix, Hulu, and emulators. It's not anything too crazy. The Shield just does it's job really well.

bhrianz

There is no single recipe, match your list of applications to your needs. Shield gives you the greatest opportunities for playing games from all Andorid Boxes, the ability to stream games from a PC called GameStream is great. My Shield works great with NAS from Synology, where I keep my Kodi media library. Unfortunately, the application base for AndroidTV is still poor compared to ordinary Android. A certain solution is sideload, but not all applications adapt to the TV screen and/or pad control (I have 2015 without remote).

stenso

Install Termux and Tasker and this box can do unimaginable things. Then let that overwhelm as you end up just using it for Netflix and Prime Video.

kcheyne

Get an antenna and run it through a HDHomerun. Use Live Channels app on Shield to watch it. Works great.

DirectTVNow works okay-ish. You have to side-load the app, which is not bad. I've been having weird problems lately with certain channels not loading.

Plex works great, especially as a DVR with HDHomerun.

Jonnyal

would you be my homie? I believe you really need one

Max_Roc

If you're into sports, grab"Puffin Tv Browser" from play store and stream Reddit sports streams in it. So much better than Kodi sports.

BacalaMuntoni

Stick your cock in it