Computer Shopper - UK (2020-04)

ISSUE386|COMPUTER SHOPPER|APRIL2020 37

ONSHEERPOWER,no media streamer
matches theShieldTVPro.Besides being a
monster of a4Khub,withbeefierinternals
than the previous 2017 model (Shopper351),
it alsocontinues with the ShieldTV’s focus
on streaming games.
It’s alot bulkier than the likes of theRoku
Express on page 38, looking much more like a
miniature games consolethan atypicalmedia
streamer.However, this grants it room for
muchgreater connectivity,too: on the rear
edge thereare two USB3 ports, an HDMI 2.0
output and aGigabit Ethernet jack. Theonly
miserly move is Nvidianot including an HDMI
cableinthe box.

ENCODEBREAKER
We’renot tookeenonthe shape of the
remote–its rounded underside means it rolls
aroundinsteadofsitting flat –but it has a
good range of buttons,includingadedicated
onefor Netflix, nottomention amicrophone
forbarking voice controls at the Alexasmart
assistant. Youcan also install the Nvidia Shield
TV apponyour smartphone to use it as a
virtual remote; the UI isn’t as well designed as
Roku’s app,but it works well enough.
Those souped-upinternals arecentred
around aTegra X1+ processor,the horsepower
of whichallowsthe Shield TV Prototake
some video file types –H.264, H.265 (HEVC)
and MPEG 2, forexample–and transcode
them on the fly forinstant streaming. The
AI-Enhanced upscaling also makesfulluse of
thechip,producing verycrisp,vibrant results.
The 16GBofinternalstorageis, by contrast,
alittlestingy,but at least the Shield TV Pro
can also act as aPlex media server,and comes
with the Plex softwarepre-installed.
There’s awealth of content to explore on
theShield TV Pro.You can accessmostof
thepopular streaming services, including
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video,BBC iPlayer,
ITV Hub,GooglePlayMovies &TVand
YouTube plus plenty besides;Now TV is the
only notable absentee.
Still, those looking foramore complete
streaming hubmightwant to consider the
Roku Premiere or Roku Expressinstead,as
ttthhhese grantttaccesstttoeveryUUUKKKserviiice you
can think of,not to mention the fact that

NVIDIAShieldTVPro

★★★★★

£200•Fromwww.scan.co.uk

VERDICT

Nvidia’supgradedstreamercoulddowithsomeextraperipheeerals,
butit’salsothemosttechnicallycapabledeviceofitskind

MEDIAANDGAMESSTREAMER

botharefaaarcheaper.And,

frankly,ifaaallyouwantisa

streamingbbboxforviewing

videoconteeent,theShieldTV

Proisprobbbablyoverkill.

That’snnnot to deny that

its video caaapabilitiesare

exceedinglyyygood.It’s 4K

HDR10-ready, anditnow has

DolbyVisiooonHDRsupportas

well.4KHDDDRcontent canbe

streamedaaatupto60fps,

anditofferrrs4K-upscaling

from 720pupwards at

30fps. Audio featuresare

excellent, too, if you’ve

gotthe surrrround-

sound systttem to

makeuseooofthem.

The Shield T

supportsthhh

Dolbyaudiooosssuuuiiittteee,

including DolbyAtmos,plusDTS-Xsurround

sound and hi-res audio playback at up to

24-bit/192 kHz over HDMI.

ALLFUNANDGAMES

Other than thefact that upscalingonly works

forvideo and not games,cloud gaming is

definitely theShieldTVPro’s biggest draw.

From the AndroidTVPlayStore and the

Nvidia Games channel there arecountless

freegames youcan download forthe

Shield TV Pro,many of which are playable

withonlythe remote.

Integrated Steamlink support also letsyou

playgames fromyourSteam libraryofPC

titles, assuming your PC is connected to the

same network, and Nvidia’sGeForce Now –

which provides cloud accesstoarange of

AAA games –willalso be supported. At the

moment, it’s only in closedbeta, andwe

weren’t allowed access in time forthis review,

but even without it there are multiple viable

ways to play on theShieldTVPro.Wehaven’t

even mentionedthe extensive emulator

support forclassic games,although you’ll

needtoprovide your own ROMs.

Formorecomplex games,aconsole

contttrolllllleriiisamusttt,whhhiiichhhiiiswhhhyiiittt’’’ssuchhh

ashamethat Nvidia has chosen notto

provideoneinthebox,especiallywhenthe

last-generation model didso. This isn’t as

bad as it sounds as it’s compatible with

XboxOne and PS4 gamepads, butit’s

something to bear in mind if you don’t have

any already lying aroundathome.

HOTBOX

As streaming devices go,the NvidiaShield TV

Pro is almost the completepackage, allowing

youtostream4KHDR content,manage your

personal media library andplaygamesina

multitude of different ways.

Is it worth£200? Arguablynot –the lack

of acontroller is downrightweird, and if you

simply wanttostream video content you

only really needtospend afraction of that.

As acombinedmediaand games streamer,

however, the Shield TV Pro is certainly an

impressive pieceofhardware.

TomBruce

VIDEOOUTPUTSHDMI•NETWORKINGGigabitEthernet,

802.11ac Wi-Fi,Bluetooth 5.0•DIMENSIONS159x98x26mm

• STREAMING FORMATSPlex,Kodi•INTERNET
  STREAMING SERVICESNetflix, AmazonPrimeVideo,Google
  Play Moviesand TV,GooglePlayMusic,YouTu be,BBC iPlayer


• WARRANTYTwoyears repair andreplace•DETAILS
  http://www.nvidia.co.uk•PART CODE945-12897-2505-101

SPECIFICATIONS

CONNECTION PORTS

HDMI USB3x2 Ethernet