NVIDIA’s Shield set-top box has always included the $5 Plex app for watching your videos and viewing your photos. With an impending update, though, the Shield is going to become even better for Plex users.
With Shield Experience Upgrade 3.2, the NVIDIA Shield will gain Plex Media Server capabilities. This means that you can use the Shield set-top box to stream content to other screens. The Shield will support hardware-accelerated transcoding (H.264, MPEG2, and HEVC), 4K video at 60fps, and the ability to push multiple simultaneous streams.
Shield Experience Upgrade 3.2 will be released later this month. When it arrives, you’ll be able to load up your Shield with your videos and photos. If you’d prefer to keep some storage free for games, apps, and other content, you can also attach an external hard drive or NAS to the Shield unit.
With features like Android TV and gaming features like the ability to play PC titles on your TV, the NVIDIA Shield was already an impressive set-top box. Now it’ll be getting even better with the addition of Plex Media Server. While that’s not a feature that everyone will use, for those that do know what Plex is, the Shield is likely going to become the top option for a new set-top box on the market.