Just got a nvidia shield 2017. Is there any benefits to rooting this? What things can be done with root that would make the overall device better? There seems to be a big community on xda for this device, but I can't seem to find any reason to go through the trouble of rooting (Im not into piracy).
EDIT: Appreciate all the replies. Not gonna do it! Thanks for insight
Rooting an Android TV device is really only necessary if you have a specific use case that requires root, which are uncommon on stationary devices like Shield TV. I rooted mine, so I could install a custom keymap for the third party remote I use, and so I could unlock the rest of the city in GTA:SA without actually doing the missions.
No need to root, your not going to gain anything really. Rooted both mine when I first got it, no real advantage. Have since flashed them back to stock unrooted. I run Kodi + addons and third party apps with no issues.
For me it was CEC commands for the screen saver in Kodi so my AVR/Projector shut off if my video ends and I’m sleeping.
Editing the hosts file directly and now having to use a shitty VPN app for certain things. Also as blocking system wide is a pretty nice feature too. I think there are some Magisk modules that are good to use as well but I haven’t looked into that yet.
There always seems to be one or two little things that it’s nice to have root if you need it, that’s why I always do it, saves me later from having to erase everything and starting over.
I bought four Nvidia Shields and rooted them so I could configure the first one with all my apps and settings then made a nandroid backup to restore to all the other shields.
No need for root. For ad blocking I use Blokada which does a great job in 3rd party apk's. Thats all I need.