today we’ll compare the nvidia shield androidtv to the asus nexus player, run benchmarks, and find out how they stack up against oneanother. comparing the nexus player to a powerhouselike the nvidia shield android tv almost seems unfair. the two are very similar, but theshield is actually more of a competitor to the xbox one and ps4 than it is to the nexusplayer.
Android TV disable recommendations, the nexus player is the device you’d goout and buy if you wanted a roku or apple tv, but you prefer android and probably alreadyuse google’s services. meanwhile, the shield is something you’d buy if you want the xboxone or ps4, but you want to save $150 to $200. both systems are built on the android tv operatingsystem. android tv is an os google created
specifically for use with your tv. in thecase of these media players, think of them as the roku with games, but with much morepotential. both systems are relatively straight forward to setup, both have an available remoteand game controller, and both stream content to your tv from the internet. they includethe typical rundown of streaming apps, such as netflix, hulu, and youtube, as well asgoogle specific apps like the google music app in case you have an all access subscription.however, unlike other media players, these run android, so installing the same apps usedon your phones and tablets is possible in most cases. this gives the shield and nexusplayer the capability to be media powerhouses when paired with apps such as vlc, kodi tv,and es file explorer. it also allows the installation
of emulators, such as snes9x, which allowsyou to play your favorite retro super nintendo games. the nexus player includes a simple 5 buttonremote with a circular directional pad. pressing the microphone button will bring up googlesearch, and the remote acts as a microphone, allowing you to search for content by voice. the system itself is capable of displaying1080p video @ 60hz. it has a 1.8ghz quad core intel atom processor paired with imaginationpowervr series 6 graphics 2d & 3d engine. for memory it has 1gb of ram and a mere 8gbof storage. there is one micro-usb 2.0 port, which allows for attached storage using anotg adapter, but only apps will recognize
the drive. the os completely ignores it. thenexus player does not have an ethernet port, but it has internal 802.11ac wi-fi with mimosupport. it also has bluetooth 4.1 for connecting the remote, the optional controller, and otherbluetooth devices. when i bought the nexus player, the pricewas $99, plus another $39 for the optional controller, bringing my price to $138 plusshipping. there was definitely an early adopter tax in there, because the nexus player isnow only $79, and is often on sale for less than that. click the link in the descriptionbelow for purchasing options and more details. i used two benchmark apps to compare the performancebetween these two devices. running antutu at 1080p, the nexus player chugged along andeventually scored 39265. in comparison, i
ran the same benchmark on my samsung galaxynote 4, with a resolution of 1440p, and scored 50724. i expected more from an intel atomprocessor without the limitation of running on battery power. next, i fired up 3dmark.unfortunately i cannot give the score on this benchmark, because each time i attempted torun the test, the nexus player would suddenly reboot half way through it, and it never completedthe benchmark. this benchmark isn’t the first time i’ve seen that happen, more onthis later. the nvidia shield android tv is more gamingoriented than the nexus player, so when you buy the shield, the remote is the optionalaccessory, not the controller. the shield controller in my opinion is ugly, and it’sprobably the ugliest controller designed for
a specific system sold today. however, thecontroller makes up for its aesthetics in functionality and performance. the controllerreminds me of the duke from the original xbox, it’s big and comfortable, but without theawkward black and white buttons. the game buttons are laid out identically to the buttonson the nexus player (or is it the other way around?). however, in addition to those gamebuttons, nvidia gives you 4 capacitive buttons in the middle. the shield logo, a back button,a play / pause button, and a home screen button. compare that to the power button on the nexusplayer controller, which turns the controller on and off, with two adjacent buttons forback and home screen. the play / pause button was a welcome addition, and is great to havein games. the shield button on the shield
controller has two functions. it can bringthe system out of sleep mode, consequently turning on your tv, and changing any hdmiconnected devices to the correct input if all devices are cec compatible, and it alsodoubles as the search button. the controller has a built in microphone which allows youto perform voice searches. on the bottom of the controller are plus (+) and minus (-) buttons.if your hdmi cec devices support volume controls, these buttons can be used to turn the volumeup and down on those devices. this was very convenient with the 40†toshiba in my bedroom,as i no longer needed the tv remote to control volume. not all tv’s support this feature,so the shield has the option of increasing and decreasing internal volume, as well assetting the volume to fixed if you will be
using an external non hdmi cec compatibledevice. the top of the controller has a micro usb 2.0 port for charging, a led indicatorthat is rather easy to overlook, and a headphone jack that will allow you to watch tv contentwithout disturbing others in the room. and finally, this controller communicates overwi-fi instead of slow bluetooth, giving this console a perceivably instant reaction time.far more than i can say for the nexus player on occasion. the system itself is capable of displaying2160p ultra high definition, often mislabeled as 4k, @ 60hz. this makes the shield the onlymedia player at the moment capable of streaking 4k content from netflix and hulu. while yournew 4k tv is undoubtedly a smart tv, as of
today, your only other option for 4k contentis to attach a brand spanking new computer with hdcp 2.2 support. i haven’t testedthe 4k capabilities of this device, however, because i do not have a 4k tv yet. the systemruns a 2ghz quad core tegra x1 processor with a 256 core maxwell gpu. for memory it has3gb of ram. on the base model you get 16gb of solid state storage, twice that of thenexus player, while on the pro model you get a 500gb hard drive. the shield also has amicrosd slot and two usb 3.0 ports for additional storage; however, i do not recommend usingthem to hold your apps or any important files. more on this later. the system also has amicro usb 2.0 port. unlike the nexus player, you’re given the option of using a gigabitethernet port, something i highly recommend
if you intend to take advantage of nvidia’sgrid service, or you can use the internal 802.11ac dual-band wi-fi. i was never ableto get surround sound from the nexus player without using kodi tv, however the shieldhas dolby 7.1 surround pass-through capability. software wise, one big difference with theshield is the built in ability to stream your game sessions to twitch, however a nativetwitch app is missing from the android tv platform altogether. the nvidia shield android tv was $199 at thetime of purchase, making the console only $61 more than what i paid for the nexus playerwith its optional controller. for an additional $100 you can get the pro model, however atthat price point, you may want to weigh your
other options. for only $50 more you can buyan xbox one; however, while you will get far more quality games to choose from, those gamescost much more for each title, and the xbox one is not as flexible of a system as theshield, which is an android device. the shield also has an optional stand if you prefer verticalorientation vs horizontal, and the optional remote, while expensive, also has a headphonejack and capacitive volume controls. running antutu at 1080p, the shield was quitea champion and eventually scored an amazing 70,718, nearly doubling the 39,265 of thenexus player. then i fired up 3dmark on the shield. the nexus player would not finishthe 3dmark benchmark, but the shield scored 47,263. i did not run 3dmark on my note 4.
these test were pretty much what i was expectingfrom these devices, however i thought the atom processor would do better. still, whenyou look at what these devices were meant for, they serve their purposes rather well.one was meant for watching movies and listening to music with occasional gaming, while theother is all that but with much more focus on the gaming aspect. these consoles do share one trait, however.they both have minor problems that are annoying. the nexus player, as i’ve said earlier,has an issue with restarting when the system is under load. it never does it when watchinga movie or listening to music. the system restarts when you’re playing games, or doingsomething graphic intensive. keep in mind,
these games are not even close to as demandingas the games the shield is capable of running, these are games that can be played on a cellphone. other issues include the bluetooth suddenly not responding while in the middleof playing a game, and the remote shipped with my unit died a couple of weeks ago. ithas been rmaed by asus, and i’m preparing to ship it to them for a replacement. alsoi believe google should have never released this device without ethernet. any enthusiastthat wants a seriously low latency, uninterrupted connection, will prefer ethernet of wifi. the shield hasn’t been problem free either,however i believe their problems can be fixed via a firmware update. this system was thefirst i’ve ever encountered where an accessory
was wirelessly updated with the system. however, there are still minor glitches. attimes, the shield controller will simply refuse to turn on. i haven’t been able to figureout why, but when it happens, the only way to power on the controller, is to connectit to the system using the included usb cable. by far the most common issue i have is accidentallyhitting the shield button, bringing up the voice search in the middle of doing something.the button is so sensitive. 50% of the time when it happens, i didn’t even feel my fingertouch the shield button, the other 50% of the time i was just attempting to pick upand move the controller, or i was doing something else when my finger accidentally brushed acrossit. it is by far the most annoying thing you
will notice using this device. the last problem i had i didn’t troubleshootor bother returning to see if the issue happened again. the console is plugged in all night,but after so many hours it goes into a sleep state. i decided i wanted to put my gameson something other than the 16gb of internal storage, which is also shared with the systemitself. so i put a spare 16gb microsd card into the slot, along with a 16gb usb flashdrive i have that isn’t being used for anything else. i went into the system and hit “eraseâ€,there isn’t a “format†option, set the system to automatically install future appsonto the sd card, and i moved all of my apps over to sd card, with the exception of esfile explorer. i played some games, watched
some movies, and then went to bed. the nextmorning i hit the shield button, my tv turns on, and i’m taken to a home screen thatis missing every 3rd party app i installed except es file explorer. i quickly determinedthat for some reason, the shield corrupted all of the data and even the file system onboth the card and the flash drive. i had to remove both and use my pc to get them workingagain. it’s a minor problem, but with a major side effect. so when it comes down to it, the shield absolutelywins my vote. hopefully, one day soon, they will fix these issues i’m having. even ifthey don’t, they aren’t deal breakers. the shield cost more than double the currentlyless than $70 nexus player, but if you want
more than just netflix and hulu, you can’tbeat the performance of the nvidia shield at the starting price of $199. either way,i have links to both in the description below if you want to see your purchasing options. so what do you think of these devices? doyou own one, or are you planning to buy one?
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