Hey everybody,
my Nvidia shield tv is about to arrive and I got a few questions for the more experienced of you. I know that some of you are annoyed but yet another post regarding this, but I never found all the relevant information at one place. So, if I offend you simply by posting this, feel free to move on.
I will list the various setups I gathered from my research with additional questions. Please feel free to add/criticize/improve anything.
My components are: Sony 65XE9005 / Shield tv / Denon AVR / Logitech remote / Laptop (oldish Nvidia gpu)
I) Settings
- Enable transfer files over network to be able to access an external hard drive plugged into the shield.
- Enable HDMI CEC (and hope that everything still works…)
- Set quality to 1080p since the upscaling of the TV is superior.
Did I forget or misunderstand anything important?
II) Apps
- Geforce Now
- Xplore file manager
- Spotify
I will use Amazon/Netflix/Plex as well.
III) Kodi
Until now I used a plex server of a friend of mine, but I plan to get my hands onto quality material myself. As of yet, I have never used Kodi, so my questions are.
- What are the advantages compared to a plex server (which could be hosted on the shield)?
- Which addons/builds/skins do you guys use? r/Addons4Kodi is not really beginner friendly.
IV) Live tv
What is the simplest way to receive live tv? From what I understand I simply need a tuner like this one . The apps I want to use are Magine TV and YOUTV; bonus points if you got a solution for Germany.
Of course, there may be apps that grab various live streams, but those mostly aren’t 1080p.
V) Playstore Games
I want to use couch coop games for the most part.
- Stuff from Nvidia Lightspeed
- Ultimate Horse Chicken
- Jackbox
Anything great that I am missing (apart from the stuff listed below)?
VI) Emulators
- RetroArch (old consoles)
- Dolphin (Gamecube+Wii)
- SNES9xe (SNES)
- Reicast (Dreamcast)
- Drastic (DS)
- Mupen (N64)
- MAME4driod (Arcade)
As I understand it, I need to download a bunch of ROMs (to the external hard drive) and scan them with the respective console, correct?
VII) “Next level gaming”
I know that I can play Mario Kart and Mario Party with Dolphin emulator, but only the dated versions. I have seen videos of people playing Super Mario Party and Mario Kart 8 on their shields .
They seem to be using Cemu (+ DroidMote) + Gamestream but this is where I don’t know any further as of yet. Has anyone played around with this?
VIII) Hardware
With the stuff listed above I will definitely run into storage problems, so I mentioned above I want to use an external hdd.
- Can the drive be utilized as adoptable storage for apps + mass storage for mkv files + ability to access it from the pc?
- Do you have any recomendations for drives? I ask because the choice of hardware can drastically decrease the overall speed .
- And lastly, since I have an Xbox one: Will a wireless adapter for windows work as intended?
Thank you for sticking to the end and thanks for the answers/discussion in advance.
If you don’t have one, I highly recommend a Logitech Harmony remote with the hub. I also prefer the cheaper remote that uses a button battery vs the fancy rechargeable ones with touch screens. I’ve tried many, and the smaller lighter remote that doesn’t need to be constantly recharged works best for me. The hub is easily configured with a phone app, and supports IR and Bluetooth. The remote uses RF to talk to the hub, so it works without line of sight.
If you’re using an external drive as adoptive storage, you can turn on/off network access to the drive as needed. I only turn it on when I have stuff to transfer onto the SHIELD, otherwise I leave it off.
Since you have a Harmony remote and are using an AVR, I would disable HDMI CEC. I rely on the Harmony to power everyone up/down and configure all the inputs correctly. Since sound will be handled by the AVR instead of the TV, I configured the SHIELD to output constant sound and adjust the volume on the AVR (the TV speakers are mute). I also found that the SHIELD remote’s volume control to be finicky, so it sits in a drawer as a backup to the Harmony.
I’m not sure about configuring the SHIELD to output 1080p, wouldn’t the prevent you from enjoying 4K Netflix? But if all you’re consuming is 1080p or less, then sure.
I’m going to skip over apps, Kodi, and live TV, since I’m more of a Netflix/Prime/Plex guy who hasn’t cut cable TV yet. I also haven’t found many Playstore games to be worth my time. Frankly, the AndroidTV app selection in the Playstore seems so janky and limited, I’m tempted to do some app development in that space, lol.
As for emulation, you can pay a small price for individual emulators, but RetroArch is free and supports emulation cores for everything up to PlayStation and N64. Collecting the ROMs and learning how to properly configure everything are the main challenges, but it’s not too bad if you can google stuff and follow directions. I wouldn’t bother with GameCube or Wii at this time, I don’t think the performance is there yet.
In regards to “next level gaming”, it sounds like you’re talking about Gamestream and GeForceNow. I’m not sure if your laptop has a supported GPU to make Gamestream work, but if it does, you could mirror games from your laptop to the TV. But that seems pointless, since the laptop is portable and could be connected directly to your TV and AVR. On the other hand, I have a high end gaming rig in my office, and the SHIELD is awesome at streaming my PC gaming to my home theater. I also tried GeForceNow for a few games, and that worked surprisingly well too! For either of these to work well, a wired local network is strongly recommended, but it’s possible on a solid dual channel 5g WiFi (which I have, but went with wired after experiencing some instability).
For storage, I had an old 256GB SSD lying around, so I picked up a cheap USB drive enclosure that also doubles as a USB hub. This means I still have plenty of ports for charging and connecting accessories. I use one port for an extension cable to the “Unifying” wireless receiver for my wireless keyboard and mouse. Another port is for the PlayStation Eye camera, which I’m using strictly for the far field microphone. The SSD is configured as adoptive storage, which means the SHIELD treats it as part of its encrypted internal storage. This gives me plenty of space for apps, and for files I want stored locally, like my collection of ROMs for the emulators, or a collection of AppleTV aerial screensaver movie files. Note that when using adoptive storage, the external drive is encrypted and can only be accessed when connected to the SHIELD. As for the rest of my storage, I have a NAS which acts as my home backup solution, but also serves Plex, music, photos, etc., which the SHIELD acts as the client.
For the Xbox One controller, I think it should work without an adapter (Bluetooth), but a wired adapter should work too.