re: What's the best device for streaming besides FireTV box?

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Nvidia shield TV pro

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This.

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easy enough for the wife to use

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Had an older relative who had a stroke. In the nursing home, when he was damned near dead and wearing depends, he could still operate his Roku. It’s pretty user friendly.

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Nvidia Shield Pro 2019 is the best but that doesn't mean it isn't without its own problems.

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I've had issues with mine including freezing up more than any other streaming device I've used in the past (used both Roku and Fire TV/Sticks previously and never had that issue).

Also certain apps either not available for it or not loading properly on it. Hulu stopped loading for me completely and DirectTV Stream isnt even available for it.

I sideloaded Dtv Stream, but after every update I would have to reinstall or jump through other hoops to get it running again. It became a pain in the arse, so i actually have my main TV back on the firestick 4K max and have my shield sitting in a drawer somewhere.

But I do agree with you. When the Shield Pro 2019 is humming, it is a beast. It outperforms anything when it is at its best. And I'll move it back to my main device once I leave Dtv Stream or it becomes available on the Shield again, but I dont think it is as smooth of an experience as the other streaming devices. At least in my experience.

Apple TV or shield pro or regular

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I've had issues with mine including freezing up more than any other streaming device I've used in the past (used both Roku and Fire TV/Sticks previously and never had that issue).

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At the time I purchased my Shield TV (2017), I ended up purchasing and returning a bunch of devices because I found each one had its own problems and compromises (for example, AppleTV 4K didn't exist, the FireTV at the time didn't have HDR support in Prime, etc.). The Roku Premiere+ and Ultra at the time had a huge problem with freezing with audio passthru enabled and when it froze it would emit a high pitched screeching noise and I'd have to run to a remote as fast as possible to mute it. I couldn't return it by the time I discovered a huge thread on their forums about it with people complaining about the bug for over a year+ so I put it in my bedroom where I had no surround sound anyway.

In my experience, under normal conditions the Nvidia Shield performed better than any of the rest in terms of UI feel and responsiveness except the Xbox One S

The big problem is that Nvidia has had some shitty updates to its OS (esp. its Android 12 upgrade) and to its Plex client that messed up the performance or caused lockups or other issues. When I posted that comment 2 weeks ago I was dealing with a Plex update that caused any files with Dolby TrueHD to just lock up or crash.

Usually when everything else is acting up though I can load up Kodi and browse to my files over network shares and everything loads/works fine, just not through pretty apps like Plex.

It has pretty tremendous app support but it doesn't have everything, and it gets frustrating when a company has an Android phone app and a Roku TV app but no Android TV app. It's just a UI adjustment, damnit. But at the same time it has apps that Roku/FireTV doesn't either so it's pretty even to me.

my biggest gripe with shield (regular or pro) is that it eats up batteries quickly