I stopped using it as a tablet a long time ago. Thinking of getting the mini HDMI cable and using my shield k1 instead of our frustrating Roku 4 experience. If so, can I buy and add the shield remote?
Or would I be better off just getting a shield TV? I am hesitant because of how old the shield TV is and not sure if anything newer is on the near horizon from Nvidia (or someone else).
You already have the K1, go ahead and look for that cable, maybe for your needs everything will work.
Also you can get an Amazon Fire TV cheap on Amazon Warehouse.
Here you can find more info.
Good luck
Your Shield tablet isn't really designed for TV use. You could probably pair the Shield remote with it and install a TV focused launcher such as TV Launcher, but most standard Android apps really aren't designed to be used with a remote.
As others have mentioned, there are two new Shield devices on the horizon. One looks to be a refresh of the current Shield model with the more efficient processor they're using in the new Switches, and the other is going to be a lower-end device (possibly a dongle type thing). If you'd like to try out using your tablet on a TV as a stopgap, I'd recommend you get a remote with an air mouse component (something like this should do the trick). Or just set up everything through Kodi.
New Shields have shown up in FCC listings . There should be some soon so waiting is probably a good idea.
The Roku 4 was a mess. The newer Roku Ultras are much better if all you're doing is watching things like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
I don't think the K1 tablet (running Android OS and not Android TV) will be any better. The remotes are $40-$50 by themselves and may or may not even work.
As an aside, all the Shield TVs are "out of stock", so the new models are definitely immanent.