We’re considering shutting down our media PC for good, as it’s aged, noisy and draws a lot of power. We’ve been googling around and it seems like Nvidia Shield would be a good substitute. However, we mainly seem to get the positive ads or positive reviews about it when we search around, and I would like to get some more “rounded” comments about it.
How does it perform with VPN? Can you stream games from other computers? Does it handle media streaming services well without lag? Is it a time/money sink?
I’ve got a 2019 Pro model. It’s hardwired over Ethernet, and so is my desktop, so I stream all the time with no issues. I use Steam Link (I have an AMD GPU and have never gotten Sunshine to work).
I keep a flash drive plugged in and use that to transfer files. It’s a perfectly fine little server that my wife and I use to exchange memes and wallpapers. I also set up SyncThing to keep all my non-steam saved synchronized across my desktop and Steam Deck.
The video streaming is… Fine. I have a 65" 4K TCL 6 Series TV. Unfortunately my house is old, so it’s over a fireplace in an awkwardly shaped living room, with the center of the screen being about 12’ away from the viewer’s head. I can’t fit anything bigger than 65" between the mantle and ceiling. I tried turning messing with the AI upscaling and can’t notice any difference other than some weird artifacts when it’s turned up, and no real difference compared to the built-in Roku. The main advantage is navigating menus and using the Shield remote is way better than the Roku one.
I think it’s worth maybe $70-$90, not $200 or whatever they are selling for now. I wish there was an SD card slot or some sort of storage upgrade path other than USB. But it’s good enough I didn’t return it.
Thank you. I am greatful to you and to this community for the good feedback and advice.
I’ve put this product on our “to buy when we have spare money around and the time to set this up properly”, e.g. family want-but-not-entirely-needy-about-list (or “villhöver” in Swedish).