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

arstechnica.com

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

#181

Post by cf100clunk »

mschild wrote: post #138
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?

The IronFox version of Firefox works excellently on my 2019 Shield TV.

Also the DuckDuckGo browser blocks a ton of stuff on my 2019 Shield TV when first installed via NeoStore (F-Droid and other repositories frontend) then upgraded via AuroraStore (Google Play Store frontend) or Google Play itself. I've found that I had to use that sequence because it could not install initially from the Play Store, but maybe that has changed.

Another browser option is Cromite, which is a hardened Chromium for Android.

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

#182

Post by vee-kay »

zinekeller wrote: post #134
altano wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I use an old Amazon FireTV Stick on an old LG LED TV (semi-smart), and neither of them bug me with such fullscreen ads, unless I opt to watch MX content on Amazon Prime (MX is basically third-party ads-funded free OTT content; Amazon Prime requires subscription, and even its standard subscription has occasional ads for Prime content, though Amazon Prime also has a premium pricing tier for ads-free content).

I don't face such third-paety ads nonsense on Netflix and Disney+ (yet), at least on this old FireTV and old LG TV.

Unskippable irrelevant annoying ads and privacg concerns are the main reasons I still steer clear of "smart" TVs.

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

#183

Post by mkozlows »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #168
xattt wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did end up switching to Flauncher for a while before getting an Apple TV.

Does Apple TV have ads for Apple shows in its UI?

No. The Apple TV _service_ does, and you can configure that service to be some kind of weird god service if you want. But you can also treat that service like any other normal service, one that only comes up if you launch it. In that case, the home screen is just a straight icon grid with no kerfuffle.

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

#184

Post by cf100clunk »

VerifiedReports wrote: post #112
scrollop wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix button fix- Get the app "button mapper" (or similar name) On the free version, you can configure the button for- one click of the netflix button to open Plex, and 2 clicks to open something else (eg youtube). This also works when the shield and TV are off- One click of the netflix button turns on the shield, which turns on the tv.

Thanks. I should get around to just remapping it. I've had to replace my original remote, and the new one still has the Netflix button.

With a SofaBaton remote and some button reassignments using the Button Mapper app, everything is just right now, and pairing a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard was easy.

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

#185

Post by wredcoll »

Novosell wrote: post #146
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/

I just removed updates from whichever app it is that handles the launcher, all ads gone, still get to be on latest OS version :)

How?

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

#186

Post by pjmlp »

stevenhuang wrote: post #160
pjmlp wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is called a legal binding contract, business use it all the time to enforce support.

Contracts can be broken and resolved with money. Happens all the time.

Yes, and lawsuits do exist as well.

Point being, blame lies not only on Qualcomm as Google advocates tend to point out.

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

#187

Post by 6SixTy »

ndiddy wrote: post #156
wronglebowski wrote: post #51

Everyone is missing the why here, this only happens because the whole stack is vertically integrated. Even if say LG wanted to make a box like this and update it for 10 years they couldn’t, they don’t make the chips. Qualcomm straight up refuses to support chips through this many Android releases. Even if device manufacturers want to support devices forever it won’t matter if the actual SoC platform drops support.

I think it's more a combination of vertical integration and Nvidia upper management actually wanting to provide support for so long. Apple, Google, and Samsung all make smartphones with their own chips, and yet none of them support running the newest OS on 10+ year old devices.

I have to wonder if the Nintendo Switch picking up the Tegra X1 SOC has something to do with it. There's a good chance a lot of components of the (custom microkernel) operating system are derived from Android, and with the Switch receiving active support for so long, I wouldn't be surprised if the work between the Shield TV and Switch are related.

With the Switch being shipped for nearly 10 years, it pales in comparison to the shelf life of most any processor Apple, Google, Samsung, Qualcomm, MediaTek (?) push out.

Though Apple in particular is interesting, as their Apple TV lineup also has the same long legs, with the Apple TV HD/4th Gen releasing in 2015 and receiving the latest OS.

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

#189

Post by Fnoord »

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…

The only customers who care about DRM are the suppliers; not the users. Force the user to not be able to play DRM content, and they'll end up pirating.

Furthermore, I never demanded a new Android TV version. All I wanted was security fixes, not Google's new shitty launcher. I'd never have bought the product if it contained the current launcher.

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

#190

Post by Fnoord »

wronglebowski wrote: post #51

Everyone is missing the why here, this only happens because the whole stack is vertically integrated. Even if say LG wanted to make a box like this and update it for 10 years they couldn’t, they don’t make the chips. Qualcomm straight up refuses to support chips through this many Android releases. Even if device manufacturers want to support devices forever it won’t matter if the actual SoC platform drops support.

Qualcomm's industrial ARM SoC are supported for nearly 10 years: Qualcomm QCM6490 in Fairphone 5 gets 8 years security updates.
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