After appearing early at some retailers last week, the new NVIDIA Shield TV is now officially official.
NVIDIA has actually introduced two new devices today: the Shield TV and Shield TV Pro. Both are now available direct from NVIDIA, and they'll be sold by Amazon and B&H as well. Pricing starts at $149.99 for the standard Shield TV, while the Shield TV Pro is $199.99.
So what's new? Both models include a new Tegra X1+ processor that NVIDIA touts will offer up to 25 percent more performance than the chipset in the previous Shield TV. Both models also include support for Dolby Vision HDR/HDR10 and Dolby Sound for improved picture and audio, respectively, and the new Shield TV models also use AI to upscale HD video streams to 4K.
The standard Shield TV has a small, tube-like design that's meant to make it easier to hide behind your TV. It's also equipped with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of built-in storage that you can expand upon with a microSD card if you'd like. There are HDMI and Ethernet ports on the tube, too, and support for 802.11ac 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 + LE is in there as well.
Meanwhile, the Shield TV Pro features dual USB 3.0 ports, letting you add more storage using larger hard drives, run a Plex Media Server, or use other USB devices. There's also more RAM and storage included: 3GB and 16GB, to be precise.
Both models come with NVIDIA's new Shield TV remote, which features a new design, motion-activated backlit buttons, a built-in lost remote locator, Bluetooth connectivity, and an IR blaster for controller your TV, soundbar, or receiver. A microphone built into the remote lets you use voice commands using the built-in Google Assistant on the new Shield TV models. Both devices also include hands-free voice control when paired with a Google Home or Amazon Echo smart speaker.
Rounding out the feature set of the new Shield TV models is Android TV, built-in Chromecast support, and the ability to play Fortnite and hundreds of other supported games using NVIDIA's GeForce NOW beta.
NVIDIA's Shield TV set-top boxes have been some of the best Android TV devices around, continuing to get software updates and improvements years after their release. That's why today's release of two new Shield TV models is great news for anyone interested in the Android TV ecosystem, especially because we aren't really seeing a ton of new Android TV devices come to market lately. So if you want to add some smarts to your television and think Android TV is the way to go, these new NVIDIA Shield TV models are worth a look.
