Nvidia to update original Shield TV

At CES this year, Nvidia announced an update to their Shield TV streaming media box. Besides a smaller footprint and some minor aesthetic updates, the new Shield TV brings support for 4K HDR media streaming and access to GeForce NOW, a game streaming service offered by Nvidia. While these new features are tantalizing and may cause some to rush out to buy the latest and greatest, owners of the current Shield TV should wait.

Nvidia has announced that they will update current Shield TV models to Android 7.0 Nougat. This update will also bring the new features announced in the 2017 Shield TV. In addition to new apps for Amazon Video, Vimeo, Twitter, and other channels, the update will also bring support for 4K HDR streaming from compatible services (e.g., Netflix) and access to GeForce NOW. GeForce NOW is Nvidia's own game streaming service that allows gamers to stream games from Nvidia’s servers and play them with the same performance and graphical details they would get with a GTX 1080. Users can also stream gameplay from their own PCs over their home network, allowing them to move from their PC desk to their couch.

This update shouldn’t come as any surprise. Despite the exterior changes and newer software, the 2017 Shield TV has many of the same internal components as the older model (including the same Tegra X1 processor). As such, both devices should have the same capabilities when it comes to computing and rendering power.

Nvidia plans to push the update out sometime in the next week.

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