Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device • Hacker News Board

Re: Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device

#131

Post by neumann » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 9:08 AM UTC

magicalhippo wrote: post #100

I have one of them, and been using it daily since I bought it in 2016. Bought a cheap Bluetooth remote control from AliExpress which was an upgrade over the Logitech Harmony crap I had earlier. If it were to break, knock on wood it won't happen, what options are there? I have tried to look but haven't really found anything that is free of Chinese backdoors and has decent hardware. For just Plex or Jellyfin a N100 box…

I have bought three for all my relatives since 2015, and finally bought one for myself. They are still in stock and sold by local brick and mortar retailers as well as online!

I use the n100 for jellyfin, and shield for streaming and controller with jellyfin client.

Re: Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device

#132

Post by altano » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 9:08 AM UTC

zimmerfrei wrote: post #125

> Nvidia released the first Shield Android TV in 2015 > it took about 18 months to [create] an entirely new security stack [...] Android updates aren’t actually that much work compared to DRM security, and some of its partners weren’t that keen on re-certifying older products. > In February 2025, Nvidia released Shield Patch 9.2 [...] That was the Tegra X1 [security] bug finally being laid to rest on the 2015 and 201…

They added auto-playing, full screen video ads to the home screen. I threw mine in the garbage.

Pride and love, lol…

Re: Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device

#133

Post by altano » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 9:10 AM UTC

Agingcoder wrote: post #127

QuiEgo wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The next best is probably an Apple TV 4k, but it can't direct play as many audio and video formats as the Shield.

It also can’t stream games

Moonlight on the Apple TV works great.

Re: Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device

#134

Post by zinekeller » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 9:13 AM UTC

altano wrote: post #132

zimmerfrei wrote: post #125

> Nvidia released the first Shield Android TV in 2015 > it took about 18 months to [create] an entirely new security stack [...] Android updates aren’t actually that much work compared to DRM security, and some of its partners weren’t that keen on re-certifying older products. > In February 2025, Nvidia released Shield Patch 9.2 [...] That was the Tegra X1 [security] bug finally being laid to rest on the 2015 and 201…

They added auto-playing, full screen video ads to the home screen. I threw mine in the garbage. Pride and love, lol…

> They added auto-playing, full screen video ads to the home screen.

I'm pretty sure this is actually Google's fault (even Sony televisions suffer from this bullcrap). Unlike phone Android, Google TV (yes, that's the official name now) enforces certain "standards", one of them is this bullcrap.

Re: Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device

#135

Post by int0x29 » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 9:16 AM UTC

zimmerfrei wrote: post #125

> Nvidia released the first Shield Android TV in 2015 > it took about 18 months to [create] an entirely new security stack [...] Android updates aren’t actually that much work compared to DRM security, and some of its partners weren’t that keen on re-certifying older products. > In February 2025, Nvidia released Shield Patch 9.2 [...] That was the Tegra X1 [security] bug finally being laid to rest on the 2015 and 201…

They did this with the switch 1 too they were just less well remembered because that subsequently got re-hacked. They lost the ARM trust zone keys and rebuilt the entire DRM stack on the HDCP keys which had been provisioned but they were not using.

Re: Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device

#136

Post by MrBuddyCasino » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 9:37 AM UTC

iJohnDoe wrote: post #72

Hamuko wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Apple TV's pretty good. I imagine I'd have a hard time switching to a Shield TV unless it gets a CPU bump, whereas Apple still keeps making newer models with modern-ish phone SoCs.

What makes the Apple TV desirable? It’s $185. Why would I choose it over a Roku $30 or Ultra $80?

It doesn’t suck.

Re: Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device

#137

Post by xchip » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 10:03 AM UTC

They updated it recently to fix the stuttering in the Disney app, and that issue had been there for a year or so. And they did that probably because Disney paid them.

It's a corporation, they don't work for free.

Re: Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device

#138

Post by mschild » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 10:13 AM UTC

drnick1 wrote: post #62

It's nice that you can unlock the bootloader on these and flash Lineage if you want to limit snooping by Google. That being said, I think that you get more flexibility and performance with a mini PC and and air mouse. For one, stock (Googled) Android does not give you an easy way to use a browser with an ad-blocker, which is still the best way to stream from many sources without ads. Also all these anemic Android box…

> stock (Googled) Android does not give you an easy way to use a browser with an ad-blocker

Firefox supports Ublock origin on Android or am I missing something here?

Re: Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device

#139

Post by flixing » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 10:16 AM UTC

sgloutnikov wrote: post #97

No thanks. Downgraded to 8.2.3 years ago and going strong with a custom launcher. Has absolutely everything I need and nothing that I don’t. This was the guide back then, possibly still works. [0] [0] https://florisse.nl/shield-downgrade/

this. anything above 9.x has been shit for me.

Re: Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device

#140

Post by yonisto » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:06 AM UTC

altano wrote: post #132

zimmerfrei wrote: post #125

> Nvidia released the first Shield Android TV in 2015 > it took about 18 months to [create] an entirely new security stack [...] Android updates aren’t actually that much work compared to DRM security, and some of its partners weren’t that keen on re-certifying older products. > In February 2025, Nvidia released Shield Patch 9.2 [...] That was the Tegra X1 [security] bug finally being laid to rest on the 2015 and 201…

They added auto-playing, full screen video ads to the home screen. I threw mine in the garbage. Pride and love, lol…

You could just have download a different home screen... sad.