How capable is the Android TV on the new Sony’s? Can it replace a shield? It does have a stout quad core 1.7 GHz processor, the Shield has a quad-core 1.9 GHz process, functionally speaking. Not sure about any IPC differences, but assume there’s IPC parity.
Whilst a quad core CPU is important it's the new ARM Mali G71 GPU that everyone should be interested in.
That is what will give you a much snappier Android TV OS and responsive Apps. Within that new GPU there is advanced ARM display tech to effectively increase data transfer rates so ultimately you get a much snappier setup:
https://www.arm.com/products/silicon-ip-multimedia/gpu/mali-g71
Picture upscaling for non 4K content will be far superior vs NVIDIA's poor implementation. Even NVIDIA Graphics cards have never been known for high quality picture upscaling.
The one problem with all Smart TV tho is 100M only LAN ports, you really need Gigabit for reliable 4K Bluray Rips networked streaming. 7.1 HD audio is another area of weakness.
I don't think it's entirely a Shield replacement but there are features this new Sony 4K Smart TV can do much better.
Upscaled picture quality, correct SDR and HDR color outputs, Dolby Audio downmixing and Dolby Vision are four things that spring to mind. You will also find Dolby Atmos Audio support from streaming Apps like Netflix.
I can't say it's better or equal to the Shield, but all accounts and reviews say that it's definitely faster than the last generation SoC in all areas.
I would try to find a review on YouTube of the TV where they demonstrate the UI's performance.
The A9F is much better than the shield if we're talking about watching movies and tv shows. It is also fast in the menus.
Shield has a better GPU, and since it's nvidia's GPU, they can add hardware capabilities in software updates, something Sony can't do as they do not design their own GPU inhouse. CPU capabilities don't tell the whole story, especially if you're interested in media capabilities or gaming (aka what Shield is best at).
It has a quad core Cortex-A73 CPU, way faster than previous CPU. I would assume its better than Shield CPU wise, worse on GPU.