I moved my Nvidia shield to a different tv and picked up a cheaper Roku for the living room a while back, but some things about the roku aren't cutting it so I'm going back to a shield for the living room. However, one thing I love about you the Roku is the remote and it's simplicity. Is there a remote that similarly pairs with the shield (or other Android TV devices) via Bluetooth and also has IR with buttons to power on and change volume on the TV?
Too bad it was a Roku instead a Firestick 4k would have been a better choice. The Roku's are a locked down system with no sideloading like the Shield or Firestick. Plus the new Firestick 4k remote looks better than the Roku.
NVidia remote has IR blaster and HDMI CEC built in so you should be able to change volumes and power via IR.
The Shield can control power and volume with some (most?) TVs, it's remote and CEC. Turn CEC on in Settings>Display and Sound. Turn CEC on for Power Control and Volume. More information here, https://shield.nvidia.com/blog/shield-tips-tricks
Another problem with the Shield's - Bluetooth Low Energy Remote is numerous users get 2.4GHz USB3 Radio Frequency Interference (Google it) due to NVIDIA's poorly designed, combined, internal WiFi / BT antenna and it's location on the Shield's internal motherboard.
Seriously you are better off getting a USB mini dongle Wireless remote like the ultra reliable MINIX A2 lite (with it's USB dongle) or the following cheap one in this post:
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916&pid=2790487#pid2790487
I will repeat again Bluetooth is subject to RF interference and USB3 has been proven to be one of the leading causes.
Avoid Bluetooth anything if you want proper reliability.
I agree, NVIDIA tried to over engineer this thing. I hate the volume slider and the build quality . All we want is a simple remote control with all buttons