- So what is there to say about
the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV box
that I haven't already said
over the past five years?
It is still the only Android
TV box you should by.
It can stream just about
any video you wanna stream.
It can act as a local media server,
and yeah, it can play
all kinds of games on it.
All right, so what's going on here?
What's up with the new SHIELDs?
There are two of 'em.
One of 'em's shaped like a tube,
and it's got a triangular remote control.
That's really, really
weird, but that's what new.
Which one should you get?
Well, I've got a full review
up on CordCutters.com.
Go check that out,
but for now, let's go dive
into it more right here.
(upbeat techno music)
All right, so here we have the
new NVIDIA SHIELD TV system.
So they are still called
SHIELD TV and SHIELD TV Pro.
Yeah, the non-Pro one is,
in fact, shaped like a tube,
and the Pro looks exactly
like the old NVIDIA SHIELD.
In fact, this one you
see here is the old one.
I didn't bother getting it.
I just got myself the tube,
but again, the new Pro has the
exact same look and features.
So what's new in 2019?
Well, three things really.
The first is a new and better processor,
and it's 25% more powerful,
which leads directly
into the second thing,
and that is some really
interesting 4K upscaling
via artificial intelligence
and machine learning.
Thing number three,
an all-new and much better remote control.
Now first, the processor,
and it still has an NVIDIA Tegra X1,
but now, it's the X1+.
NVIDIA says it's 25% more powerful,
and it has 256 GPU cores
if you're counting.
Now, the 20% more processing power
is actually really important
'cause it leads directly
into thing number two,
and that is the enhanced 4K upscaling.
So what is all that,
and why should you care?
Well, it's what lets the NVIDIA SHIELD
do real-time artificial
intelligence enhancement
of 4K upscaling.
'Kay, what does that mean,
and why should you care?
Here's the deal.
Most of what you watch on
TV now is not natively 4K.
It's shot at a lower resolution,
and maybe it's upscaled to
4K resolution on your 4K TV.
That's especially true if
it's live sports, right?
The TVs usually do a pretty good of this,
but it's still not the same as native 4K.
Now, what SHIELD does here
is a couple things actually.
Now, it still has your basic
upscaling, which is fine,
but then, the SHIELD says,
"Hey, if the content that's coming into me
"is at 720p or at 1080p and
at 30 frames per second,
"we're gonna kick in this cool neural net
"AI machine learning
core and enhance things!"
So basically, what NVIDIA
did was it took the video
and took it offline and said,
"Here's what lower resolution
content looks like,
"and here's what it looks
like in its native 4K,
"and you, artificial intelligence,
"figure out the difference
"and figure out how to apply
that to the lower resolution
"so that when we upscale
it, it looks better."
In English, it kinda makes it look sharper
and you get more details,
and that's the computer
figuring out how to do it,
and yeah, you can tell the difference.
Now, it helps a little bit to know
that it's there in the first place, right?
If I didn't tell you,
if you didn't know it
going into this thing,
you might not be able
to see the difference,
but NVIDIA's done a
really cool thing here.
They've left in some
of their internal tools
that you can use when you buy
this to see the difference.
You can see it side by side.
They got a cool little swiper thing,
or you can just turn it off and on.
So you can switch between
the basic upscaling
and the enhanced AI upscaling
and really see the difference there.
It's pretty neat.
Now, not everything you
watch is going to be enhanced
by artificial intelligence
to the new fancy 4K stuff.
It's just the way it is, and to be honest,
I really wouldn't worry
about it that much.
Just sit back and enjoy
what it is you're watching
knowing that it looks a little better.
Ah, yeah, I get a little
excited about that
anytime I get to say artificial
intelligence-enhanced
'cause it means nothing, but whatever.
That's the first two big things,
the processor and the upscaling.
The third big thing, and
this may well be my favorite,
is the new remote control.
Now, I don't know about you, but for me,
the last remote, it was
just too damn small.
I was losing it all over the place.
In fact, as I'm recording this right now,
there is still a SHIELD remote control
hidden somewhere in this room.
I have no idea.
I can't find it.
Now, the new remote is decidedly larger.
It's shaped like a rounded triangle,
and it's definitely more
comfortable to hold,
and now, it uses a
couple of AAA batteries,
so you don't have to
worry about recharging it.
NVIDIA says the batteries should last you
about six months or so before
you have to change 'em,
and the buttons are backlit,
which is really nice,
and this top one here is
customizable in the settings.
It's very cool.
The whole thing connects via Bluetooth,
and it also has infrared built in
so you can control your
TV volume much easier
as in it actually works this time,
'cause CC actually kinda sucks for that,
and yeah, now it has
proper volume buttons.
Now speaking of lost remotes,
there's also a new Find
my remote feature here.
Love it, so if you do
manage to lose your remote,
you can just use the new SHIELD app
on your phone to find it,
(remote beeping)
or if you've got a Google Home
or wanna do it through your phone,
you can just talk to it
and have Google Assistant
find your remote for you.
So all those things, yeah,
very big improvements.
Oh, by the way, because you're gonna ask,
yes, even if you have an older SHIELD,
you can buy this remote at some point,
not initially, for about $30,
and it will work with
your existing SHIELD box.
So what about game controllers,
also a big part of the SHIELD experience?
Well, the previous generation
of NVIDIA controllers themselves will work
as will anything from
Microsoft or Logitech
or whoever you like, right?
There just isn't a new
one here, and that's fine.
Your old one will work great.
All right, one more thing
we need to talk about
because yeah, there are two
SHIELDs here now, right?
So first, there's the regular.
It's just called NVIDIA SHIELD TV.
It's shaped like a tube,
and the idea is that you
can just kinda hide it
wherever you want,
behind your TV and out of sight.
On the other hand, you can do
that with the other SHIELD.
Anyway, that's what they were thinking,
and no, the tube is not a dongle.
It doesn't dongle, it doesn't
dangle, and it's not a stick.
It's a tube.
It's got the better remote.
It's got Ethernet.
It's got the power obviously.
It's got microSD.
That's still there,
and it'll play games just fine,
and it now also has Dolby Atmos for audio.
That was absolutely missing from SHIELD
in previous generations.
Good to see it here.
Now, the tube is $150,
and you will find everything
on the tube also on the Pro.
Now the $200 SHIELD Pro,
that's really more for the enthusiasts
who wanna do things like AAA gaming,
you know, the really hardcore games,
and so, it has an extra gigabyte of RAM,
three gigs instead of two.
It's got more onboard storage
than the tube, all right?
It's got 16 gigs instead of eight,
and it has a pair of USB ports in the back
so you can still plug in
your Samsung SmartThings Hub.
You can connect cameras or lights,
whatever you wanna plug in
there, external storage.
This is the one you're gonna need to get
if you still wanna run a Plex
server, that sorta thing.
Just because somebody's gonna ask,
yes, you can play "Fortnite"
on the cheaper tube.
So look at it like this, all right?
If you all you want is streaming video
and, you know, basic Android TV stuff
and you don't need the
hardcore, hardcore games
or you're not gonna be
running a Plex server,
get the $150 tube.
That's what I'd do.
If you're gonna run Plex and
you wanna run SmartThings,
then pay the extra 50 bucks.
Get beefier hardware.
Get the Pro.
So that's it for the NVIDIA SHIELD tube
and the NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro.
On one hand, there's not
a lot different, right?
It's still NVIDIA SHIELD TV.
Works exactly the same as it
did in the previous generation
once it was upgraded to Android Pie,
but on the other hand, we've got this new,
really cool AI upscaling stuff,
brand-new remote control.
I'm super excited about
that, so really good stuff.
If you got any other questions
about NVIDIA SHIELD TV tube or the Pro,
hit me up in the comments.
Go find me on the socials.
That's it, see ya next time.
(upbeat music)
