The NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV Review: A Premium 4K Set Top Box
by Ganesh T S on May 28, 2015 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Media Streamer
- Home Theater
- TV
- 4K
- Shield
- NVIDIA
Power Consumption and Thermal Performance
In order to see what the power and thermal characteristics of the SHIELD Android TV are like, the device was tested in two scenarions:
- 1080p60 HDMI output to Pioneer VSX-32, connected to a Sony KDL46EX720 46" 1080p TV. Connected to a wired network, with a Samsung T1 SSD hanging off the USB 3.0 port
- 4Kp60 HDMI output to a Samsung HU6950 40" 4K TV. Connected to a wireless network, with a Samsung T1 SSD hanging off the USB 3.0 port.
The table below summarizes the important power consumption numbers.
| NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV Power Consumption | |
| Activity | Avg. Power (W) |
| Idle (Scenario 1) | 3.6 W |
| 1080p Netflix Streaming (Scenario 1) | 4.6 W |
| 1080p YouTube Streaming (Scenario 1) | 4.7 W |
| Kodi Playback (Hardware Accelerated 1080p60 H.264) (Scenario 1) | 6.5 W |
| Kodi Playback (Software Decoding 1080i60 VC-1) (Scenario 1) | 10.4 W |
| Idle (Scenario 2) | 4.2 W |
| 4K HEVC Playback (Scenario 2) | 9.1 W |
| 4K Netflix Streaming (Scenario 2) | 10.3 W |
| Gaming (Scenario 2) | 19.4 W |
Since the gaming scenarios stressed the at-wall power consumption heavily, we decided to run the GFXBench battery life test which puts the T-Rex benchmark in an infinite loop. After 2 hours, we took a thermal image of the unit (oriented vertically with the SHIELD stand).
The thermal solution is excellent, and the frame rates were consistent across all the benchmark runs. Thanks to the low-power SoC, the chassis temperature was just 34 C (ambient at 23 C). The fan noise was audible only when we kept our ears against the vents in the back panel.
Moving on to the business end of the review, we split up the positives and negatives into two sections - one for Android TV itself, and the other for the SHIELD.
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webdoctors - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
I ordered one. This thing is gonna be great for replacing all the tiny crap I had to keep my PC turned on for. Can install a ftp and media server app, and use a usb 3.0 hub to attach a bunch of HDDs to it. Can stream my media library and maybe even use it for home security surveillance.It seems like a great embedded device for doing a lot of fun things. Hopefully it ain't hard to root and there's a ROM modding community on cyanogen/xda for it soon.
fteoath64 - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Yeah. Thats the spirit. I am thinking exactly the same thing!. Probably millions of others as well. If a version of Ubuntu gets into this, it is total replacement for Windows in the household!.malooka - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
You did not compare the mx2 midnight by matricom and the KODI program for streaming. It has two partitions. One side for the internet and one side for streaming. It is so much better than ROKU.webdoctors - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
The mx2 midnight looks pretty useful, assuming full 1080p compatibility with Netflix. I'm surprised anandtech hasn't reviewed that device yet.javishd - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
I see it has an IR port? IR blaster hopefully?I didn't see anywhere that was tested in this review.
ganeshts - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
It has an IR port for compatibility with Logitech's universal remotes. So, yes, it is there, but it wasn't tested.Udo - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Doh...I just bought this and it is currently being shipped to me via Amazon US to Canada.I wanted a more well rounded video system that was fast, supported voice etc and could play some games when needed.
So is my WDTV Live still a better player overall with
Video:
WMV9, AVI (MPEG1/2/4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), MOV (MPEG4, H.264), M2TS, TP, TS, MOV/MP4 (MPEG4, h.264), DVR-MS, VOB (unprotected or unencrypted)
Audio:
MP3, WMA, MPA, M4A, MP4A, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA
If so, after shipping, taxes, and the remote $366 might have been a mistake.
fteoath64 - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
How could that be a mistake ?. Us prices are as such. It will blow away your WD Live and relegate it to be a USB disk which is not bad really. Think about it, Maxwell based X1 is just amazing.Udo - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
Oh for sure. My point was the lack of playback support due to codec licensing constraints is all, not performance.That would be night and day.
Nehemoth - Thursday, August 4, 2016 - link
Not really, I've recently did the same convertion and has been awesome, of course, I did it recently and you did a year ago.Actually, I'm guessing you had plenty of fun with every new update with the Shield.
Just grabbed the Shield and an Extra Controller on Amazon Prime Day for 199, Even sold the controller to a friend who has a Shield Tablet for US50, so my final price would be 100.
Great deal.