Nvidia Shield TV for Lossless Streaming

ambiophonics

Earlier this year I updated my Carver TFM-35 amplifier with all new electrolytic caps, protection relays and replaced the pre-drivers with improved parts. It sounded awesome after the updates and made me think about getting the digital side of my setup to the next level. I'd like to share what I've come up with.

The current setup is all controlled from Qobuz on my phone which links to BubbleUPnP (using the share option from the Qobuz app).

BubbleUPnP acts as a controller for the USB Audio Player Pro app that runs on the Nvidia Shield TV. This app bypasses the Android system audio and uses it's own USB driver so it can pass bit perfect audio up to 24bit 192kHz.

The Shield TV also runs an app called Hue Stream that pulls color information from the album art and matches the lights behind the speakers and stereo to the currently playing track.

The USB out from the shield goes to the USB input on the Peachtree iDAC, then to a small passive preamp I made that has a stepped attenuator for volume control and two extra inputs for a turntable and HT bypass.

This all sounds needlessly complex but it lets me press one button on the Harmony remote to turn everything on and stream decent quality tunes with some nice background lighting.

The missing "link" is currently in the mail which is a V-Link 192 that will let me bypass the USB input on the iDAC which supports limited bitrates and is not asynchronous. I'm hoping this makes things sound even better. Plus it has cool lights to confirm the current bitrate.

A few other notes:

Gapless playback works if you use the UAPP on the Shield TV to queue the album.

The Shield TV doesn't have to be rebooted or adjusted between use for audio or streaming Netflix etc. It sends all audio/video out the HDMI output only using the USB output for UAPP.

You can use the Harmony remote to play, pause, or skip tracks.

Making an IR controlled 12V relay and integrating it with the Harmony remote was a pain in the butt.

ZLTFUL

I have been very impressed with the Shield TV in all things I have tried doing with it so far. If I could convince my wife that AppleTVs are inferior in virtually every way, there would be more than just the Shield TV in the theater.

Great little product and NVidia really knocked it out of the park.

ambiophonics

Uh oh... USPS has updated the tracking on the V-LINK 192 to "In Transit, Arriving Late" which the internet seems to think means it's lost. I hope that's not true as it was hard to find that particular model.

ZLTFUL

I have had those kind of “updates” go both ways. Hope yours goes positive.

Gabe777

Hi there. Does a standard USB B cable work with a DAC ?

When I use a mini USB with a phone I need to use a special OTG version.

Thnx.

ptrooper

I Just ordered a nvidia shield tv pro for the theatre room, should be here in a week .
They seem to be highly recommended
exciting stuff

msg

Just joined the Nvidia Shield crew last week. Very excited about the capabilities of this thing so far. Been spending way too much time tweaking.

I just learned how to sideload apps the other day for those Android apps not currently available/supported for Shield. This is just weird to me, and was frustrating at first.

Past two and a half days I've been feverishly playing with learning how to work with the Shield, and harvesting apps from my other Android devices and getting installed on the Shield.

I'm keeping good notes on this stuff. Curious if any of you are doing similar?

I've got a ton to share, but holding off for now until I can get my thoughts and notes better organized.

I will say that first impressions, I'm completely blown away by the video quality improvement over my previous Roku Ultra 4k 2017, which I didn't think was particularly bad until I saw how good it could be. I was also not prepared for the audio quality the Shield is capable of. You don't even have to listen hard for it. What great fun.

treitz3

Can you still control this via the Roku remote?

Tom

msg

No, not the Roku one, but there are loads of other control options, I'm finding.

It does come with its own remote, which is like a cross between a Roku and Apple remote.

You can also use pretty much any Bluetooth or USB input devices.
There is also the Shield smartphone app, as well as an "air mouse", which uses a gyroscope for positioning.

You could use a full blown keyboard and mouse if you wanted.

jbreezy5

msg wrote: »

Just joined the Nvidia Shield crew last week. Very excited about the capabilities of this thing so far. Been spending way too much time tweaking.

I just learned how to sideload apps the other day for those Android apps not currently available/supported for Shield. This is just weird to me, and was frustrating at first.

Past two and a half days I've been feverishly playing with learning how to work with the Shield, and harvesting apps from my other Android devices and getting installed on the Shield.

I'm keeping good notes on this stuff. Curious if any of you are doing similar?

I've got a ton to share, but holding off for now until I can get my thoughts and notes better organized.

I will say that first impressions, I'm completely blown away by the video quality improvement over my previous Roku Ultra 4k 2017, which I didn't think was particularly bad until I saw how good it could be. I was also not prepared for the audio quality the Shield is capable of. You don't even have to listen hard for it. What great fun.

Can you comment more about the Roku video quality differences and capabilities of the Shield?

I’ve been unhappy with the picture quality of YoutubeTV for awhile, but I like the service. Do you have any experience with this using shield?

Shield is new to me.

msg

TL;DR Version:
The presentation is sharper and also more fluid. I recall the Roku Ultra being grainy. Not a faint recollection. It was something I noticed regularly. That improved somewhat with the addition of an AQ Forest HDMI cable over some generic one I had in there at the time. That improvement was kinda sorta noticeable from the seat, and when I got up close, I could see that there was some reduction in the grain.

==========

Yes. Here's a little background first. This all started, in fact, as an extension of a recent experience with watching Netflix on an Oppo 103 I picked up from @skipshot12 a while back and sat on for a while. The

Netflix functionality in it was really just a bonus on top of having the disc functionality, but was surprised at the difference in quality. It was undeniable. Not even one of those things you had to look closely for. This also isn't even the Darbee edition, and my TV is just HD.

What I realized shortly after was that I wanted more apps to expand this quality improvement. I spent a little bit of time looking around at the Oppos, and didn't get much further than checking prices on the 205 before abandoning that route before even determining whether there are more apps available for that unit.

Somewhere in my obsessive consumption of the Art of Streamery, I came across the Shield. I was always kinda curious about them, and I remembered that a few of the guys here had them, and decided to try one. I still want to thoroughly read those other posts, as I've got much to learn, but I saw enough that I wanted to check one out.

Same as with the Oppo - picture quality easily beat the Roku, and the Roku wasn't awful or anything, just not that great. Further, the audio with the Shield was shockingly good, despite my currently poor implementation. More on that in another post once I get my notes consolidated and settle out on a config, as I'm still working on stuff.

Apologies for forcing you to endure the ramblings, but I'm really impressed and excited at the possibilities for hacking and tweaking these things.

Specifically to your question - the presentation is sharper and also more fluid. I recall the Roku Ultra being grainy. That improved somewhat with the addition of an AQ Forest HDMI cable over some generic one I had in there at the time. That improvement was kinda sorta noticeable from the seat, and when I got up close, I could see that there was some reduction in the grain.

All streaming devices mentioned here are connected over ethernet in a small 5-port Netgear gigabit switch that goes back to the home office.

I have not yet tried YouTube TV. I do not have a subscription, but did just read today that at least one member found it to be a good deal.

The Roku Ultra 2017 was also significantly slower to load apps. Specifically, HBOMAX comes to mind.

The Shield also comes with Plex Server installed natively. I run Plex off of a different machine in the home, along with LMS and my media library, but I'm going to check out how Plex operates on the Shield next. Just as a client at first. Later, I may experiment with running it as the Plex Server. The Shield has 2x USB 3.0 ports that you can use to expand on the 16GB device storage.

AI Upscaling, too, though I don't think I've come across any content that requires it. Also, again, my TV is just HD. You can control the amount of upscaling you want, too.

Also - Dolby audio. I didn't think I cared about any HT stuff, but once you have some better experiences, you don't wanna go back.

Check out the feature set here:
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/shield-tv-pro/

jbreezy5

^^^Thanks! Great write-up!^^^

@msg
_____

If you’re considering YoutubeTV, what’s great is they encourage people to sign-up, even with persons outside of your own household. I split a membership with 2 friends and we pay approx. $25/mo. each.

Keep in mind, though, YoutubeTV only allows 3 separate screens to view at once, then someone gets booted off. Never have a problem with this with my friends.

You get about 80 channels, and unlimited DVR (shows remove automatically after about 6 mos., I think; then you have to re-save them as they come back around).

IME, though, it is not a true hi-def picture quality (not even quite true 720p; images are sometimes blotchy with visual artifacts that are noticeable enough to not feel like it to me) and at best sound will be dolby digital for tv shows/movies.

If I want to watch a movie for a theater-type experience I get out my Blu-Rays. If just want to be casual/lazy, picture is passable and I’m not bothered…But for the cost and unlimited DVR, and easy UI, I love it. Lots of sports, but I can’t watch Bally’s Midwest.

I have a ROKU streamer that’s supposed to give 1080p, I think it lives up to this, at least on Blu-ray digital downloads that I have, which have great clarity, smoothness and colors; on VUDU, sound is not Dolby HD or DTS-HD, though.

msg

That's great info on the YouTube TV. I'd love to boot Cox, but one of the things they do is jack up your internet if you don't bundle the cable. For me, last I tried to escape, it was about $20 difference between my bill with internet and cable vs just internet. I was $#*@, just kept the cable and got HBO for $2. I'll try again at some point.

Interesting on the quality you've noticed.

I stream nearly everything at this point My cable subscription gives me access to the streaming versions of the channels, mainly HBOMAX, which is better than watching on tv, because it's whatever I want to see, on demand. The only other things I care about are The Weather Channel, TCM, and PBS for some of their nature shows.

I think the Dolby issue you're seeing, if not a limitation of the service, could be a limitation of the Roku? - it was in my case. I didn't even know I could get Dolby until I installed the Shield.

The Shield is pricy compared to a standalone Roku (not a stick), so do some reading to see whether it has what you want. There may be newer Rokus that do more stuff now and are cheaper than the Shield; not sure. The Shield has some nice hardware and functionality, though. To me, with what little experience I've had with it so far, that's what is setting it apart. I've barely tapped it.

If you have a 4k TV, the benefits will be even better I suspect.

jbreezy5

I’m still using 1080p Panasonic Plasma. Thanks for the advice will do some more research; but great introduction to the Shield.

dr1978

msg wrote: »

...
I just learned how to sideload apps the other day for those Android apps not currently available/supported for Shield. This is just weird to me, and was frustrating at first.
....

I've had a shield for a couple years and I'm sure I'm not getting everything out of it, so really interested in your follow ups, but especially on this aspect. We've been frustrated in the past with the lack of apps available.

msg

Cool, yeah, I'll post up more as I get better at it. @ZLTFUL could probaboffer some insight as well.

In short, what I've been doing is harvesting the apps from my Android mobile devices, as opposed to downloading apks from a site. There may be some reliable repositories out there, but I always heard stories about apks being compromised.

Next step is copying them to the Shield, installing, and then following up with a final config step using a site called atvlauncher to create the app tiles so the sideloaded apps register in the UX.

This is not a perfect process, as the apps we sideload were typically made for Android mobile devices with touch screen, not Android TV. I've found, for instance, that the there is no navigation visual feedback in some apps, like DI.FM, for example. Right now, the workaround for me is no big deal. I either use a BT Rii controller to mouse around and click or just experiment with the Shield remote until I get to where I need.

The Rii controllers are pretty handy. Check them out on Amazon. Keyboard, click navigation buttons, and mouse all in one small device. Rechargeable, battery lasts forever.

At some point I think I'm going to get an "air mouse", as well, and some kind of game controller which I think in earlier versions prob doubled as the remote?

That's where I am for now.

There may be some "safe" places to get apps, maybe more refined, but I'm not sure.

Have you guys set up KODI? I'm not too familiar with that, but people seem to love it.

jbreezy5

Kodi is popular with people that like jailbroken Amazon Firestick.

msg

Yeah, it's got some legitimate uses as well
I think @DarqueKnight is using it for streaming his local libraries, detailed in his post re: testing the Shield.

I set up some basics in KODI, but haven't explored it much yet. I'm finding the Shield has serious rabbit hole potential with respect to being a time suck.

As I understand, one can root the Shield, as well. I may try this with a second unit. I need to find a way to back up the device and services configurations with the amount of time one can spend on customization. Of course, this is not a requirement in order to enjoy the device for what it offers.

There's an app called ADB Manager one can use for backing up apps and data on Android in general, disabling bloatware packages, etc. I've not yet had a chance to try it with the Shield, but it's what's I'm using to capture the apks from my other Android devices. Closest thing I've found to backup so far without root.

With root, I've used Titanium Backup for backup and disable of bloat, and another root toolkit to create a backup package. This is a bit like a system image that could speed deployment to multiple devices. I'm thinking there's likely some process already documented for this for the Shield given it's age.

billbillw

Interesting read...
I have Rokus all through the house, but I've not really noticed a reduced image quality. Two of mine are 2016 model Premiere+ and I have a newer 2019 Onn/Roku Soundbar for the bedroom.
For the Premiere models, I have noticed that I need to keep a microSD card in them to speed up load times.

I wonder if Nvidia is doing some kind of image enhancement/sharpening.

msg

Hey Bill, yeah, I'm all over the place right now. It's like multiple rabbit holes of cool tweaks.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to make my sideloaded apps run in tablet type mode. Huge community out there of Shield tweakers. Right now it's like they're running in smartphone mode, so they're too big, and miss some of the nicer feature refinements of the tablet views. I've verified that it's the same apk on both a smartphone and old Nexus tablet, so... gotta be something I can tweak.

I didn't notice any particular issues with my Rokus until I experienced the improvement of streaming in an Oppo and then the Shield. The Rokus aren't particularly bad or anything.

I was wondering whether the improvements are just due to the hardware? It's not necessarily sharpening I notice. It was more that it was primarily more fluid.

I haven't read about the hardware in any of the devices yet. Really, before this, I really didn't care a whole lot about refined picture quality, mostly due to the media source - streaming - and to my plain Sony HD TV, XBR something. I can't even remember if it's a 50 or 55, ha.

Should prob look at a 4k sometime, maybe a 60 or 65. Low priority.

msg

msg wrote: »

I didn't notice any particular issues with my Rokus until I experienced the improvement of streaming in an Oppo and then the Shield.

I should clarify this to say that what I did notice was not awful - minor grain, mostly, that never really bothered me.

This is just one of those instances of not knowing what you're missing until you know what you're missing .

ZLTFUL

You can pry the ShieldTV Pro out of my cold, dead hands. It is far and away the best video/audio streamer under $500.

I wish I could convince my wife to not be an Apple Fangirl (the AppleTV 4K in the bar and our bedroom are fine for what they are and I don't need the lossless Atmos streaming on either of those that the ShieldTV Pro has).

Short of my HTPC running JRiver and a bunch of MadVR tweaks to allow for constant aspect ratio, it is the best streamer for the theater.