The SHIELD TV base model is largely out of stock due to demand. We don’t have any updates to share regarding future availability at this time. SHIELD TV Pro remains available, and the SHIELD platform continues to be supported with ongoing updates for more than 10 years.
The old version of this guide is still over there, but in the meantime and without further ado; let me present you the
Best Shield TV Practices checklist 2026 Edition
- GET THE CONNECTIONS RIGHT
Because it will typically allow for more PCM channels than vanilla HDMI ARC and higher sampling rates than HDMI eARC, connecting Shield to the audio receiver's HDMI-IN is usually preferred in order to preserve the best audio feature set.
On the other hand, because they may not allow passthrough for Dolby Vision, HDR or even 4K, some older/basic AVRs and soundbars may be better used via HDMI eARC/ARC, even if a HDMI-IN port is available. Make sure of your hardware capabilities to avoid wasting your time.
- TV PREPARATION
ENABLE HDMI 2.0
Some brands will call this Enhanced HDMI Format, or Deep Color, or UHD colors; and some TVs will even have a global toggle on top of the regular per-port option, but if the available display modes are maxing out at 4K@30, that means you have some kind of HDMI bottleneck somewhere in your HDMI chain.
PREPARE AUDIO PASSTHROUGH
If planning to route the audio via HDMI ARC/eARC, it is recommended to dig into your TVs advanced sound settings and make sure to specify "Pass-through" output, as the default "Auto" setting will typically try to transcode or create a MAT link, often introducing nasty audio cutouts.
DISABLE TV POST PROCESSING
People looking for a pure cinematic experience should make sure all types of post processing enhancements are disabled: motion enhancement/compensation/clearness, noise reduction, etc. Filmmaker mode can be left on/auto.
CONSIDER ENABLING GAME MODE
If the TV doesnt support ALLM (Auto Latency Mode) and you are regularly using Shield to play games, manually engaging your TV's regular Game Mode is recommended in order to get rid of the image post processing and shave as much latency as you can.
Please note: TVs will often use different profiles for SDR, HDR vs DV. A TV can be set to "Game mode" for SDR content but switch to "HDR theatre" or whatever when HDR content is on. In a HDR gaming situation (Geforce Now, Moonlight) see if you can select "HDR Game" instead of your regular HDR theatre mode. Also note that these settings will likely be only accessible when HDR/DV content is actually playing.
Shield will typically default to 4K 59.94 HDR10 ready, but it has come to my attention that it seems to introduce unexplained stutters in some situations on recent displays.
Since you will be feeding the box 24/25/30/50/60hz content most of the time anyway, my position is: no need to overcomplicate the maths with fractions of 59.94 (lunacy? make me change my mind), therefore:
Prefer a 60hz mode
Make sure to select a Dolby Vision-ready mode if available
- MAKE SURE AUTO COLORIMETRY IS ENABLED
Shield / Settings / Device Preferences / Display & Sound / Advanced display settings / Match content color space
Keep in mind some apps may not be categorized as "games" or are just not tagged appropriately and won't trigger ALLM by default, so take a minute to review the list:
Shield / Settings / Device Preferences / Display & Sound / Advanced display settings / Customize Game Mode app list
CONSIDER ENABLING PLAYER-LED DOLBY VISION
Some TVs will give buggy colors when (and only when) using regular TV-Led Dolby Vision. (red push or just plain weird colors) That bug is said not to show up (be much less noticeable?) if using player-Led Dolby Vision. Start by enabling developer options by going to:
Shield / Settings / Device Preferences / About / Build
Click Build number 8 times, and congrats; you are now a dev. Now go to:
Shield / Settings / Device Preferences / Developer options / Default to Low Latency Dolby Vision when available
That option has a bad rep because it was never well explained and first implementations were buggy.
The primary purpose was to allow transcoding Dolby Digital Plus to OG Dolby Digital; a request of the first hour for users stuck with vanilla ARC / USB / Optical audio solutions, but turns out it is also actually very useful in order to avoid audio sync gaps and normalize the volume level across apps and pieces of content.
Vastly improved from past implementations where it would always use MAT frames and get in the way of passthrough rules. Now fully recommended or at least worth a try; holdouts and downgraders should mind giving it another shot.
Makes fast toggles much easier without deep-diving into settings each time. There are a bunch of those shortcuts available, but the Audio options are the most handy because Night listening, High Resolution Audio and Dolby audio processing cannot all be enabled at the same time:
100% HDMI setups should be able to rely on the EDID alone and stay on Auto in most cases, but that information might be obfuscated be something on the HDMI chain, and will straight up not be available for users stuck with extractors, USB DACs, or optical solutions. They will have to go manual and enable only what is supported by their decoder and setup.
If you experience any kind of issue with audio, stuttering or whatever, always go back to None - Never use surround sound. That is your sanity check.
- KODI RECOMMENDATIONS:
Enable Refresh rate switching
Kodi / System / cogwheel: enable expert mode System / Player / Videos: Set Adjust display refresh rate to “On stop/start”
Enable HDR/DV
Kodi / System / Player / Videos / Processing: "Use display HDR capabilities" should be enabled.
Enable Audio Passthrough
Kodi / System / System / Audio / Audio Passthrough / Allow Passthrough
If enabled, Kodi will pass the selected formats down to Shield. Other codecs will be transcoded into PCM channels, following the number of channels specified in Kodi's Audio Decoder section before being passed down to Shield, where rules set in the "Available formats" menu will prevail and Dolby Processing be applied if enabled.
If disabled, Kodi will transcode everything to PCM channels, in as many channels as specified in its Audio Decoder section before passing it down to Shield, where Dolby Processing will then be applied if enabled.
Shield 2015/2017 owners stuck on vanilla ARC or optical solutions
Kodi / System / System / Audio / Audio Passthrough / Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver - ON Kodi / System / System / Audio / Audio Passthrough / - Enable Dolby Digital (AC3) transcoding - ON
If you want resolution switching and have the TV do the upscaling
Kodi / System / System / Display / Whitelist; select every item in the list to make them green
- PLEX RECOMMENDATIONS:
Enable Refresh Rate Switching
Plex / Settings / Advanced / Set Refresh Rate Switching to ON.
Enable audio passthrough
Plex / Settings / Advanced / Passthrough /
"HDMI" means Plex will pass over every format down to Shield, where choices made in the "Available formats" menu will apply.
"Optical" means Plex will only pass down PCM 2.0, Dolby Digital and vanilla DTS, while DTS-HD/DTS:X tracks will be stripped of their lossless metadata, and everything else will be transcoded to Dolby Digital before being sent down to Shield, where choices made in the "Available formats" menu will apply.
If you want resolution switching and have the TV do the upscaling:
Plex / Settings / Advanced / Set Resolution Switching to ON.
- REFRESH RATE APP RECOMMENDATIONS
That would be my last major recommendation update.
Manual Framerate Matching
As of firmware 9.2.x, the manual Match Framerate feature is now pretty robust and will be totally adequate in most cases, so might as well use it; especially in apps that will often serve different kinds of framerates depending on the video, like Youtube.
Settings / Remotes & accessories / Customize Menu button /
I recommend using the Double Press trigger. Select Match Framerate, and whenever watching a video, just double tap the button to see the framerate matched. Nice and simple.
App-based OS-wide display mode switching
For services that will always (mostly) serve the same kind of content/framerate, I even recommend using the OG Refresh Rate app in order to force a fixed Startup display mode and avoid all this manual shifting altogether;
Install the Refresh Rate app. (sadly a bit of an abandonware by now; has to be sideloaded.)
Select any app.
Go to Startup display mode, and select a framerate / resolution matching the kind of content it delivers the most:
Netflix, D+, HBO+, Amazon Prime
4K@24
European TV broadcast services
4K@50
BBC iPlayer
Base Shield display mode MUST be set to 25 or 50hz for the app to work, so leave it alone here.
Plex, Kodi, Geforce Now, Moonlight
support already built-in; do not touch
With all that said, you should now be able to get the best of your Shield. Hopefully anyway..
Errors, outdated stuff, or more advice? Let me know!
My Home Assistant Android Remote TV integration broke recently on my HA instance and I can no longer integrate it with my Shield Pro. The HA integration asks for the IP of the Shield Pro, but the cursor just spins and it never connects. I tried rebooting my Shield Pro and tried looking in the Developer Options, but I can't find anything obvious that was disabled.
I was previously using the integration to switch my LG TV to the HDMI 3 source when my Shield Pro was turned on. Then, when I put the Shield Pro to sleep, I had another automation that switched my LG TV back to the Cable TV source (HDMI 1) and re-sent the sound through my soundbar, since LG TVs default to TV speaker sound.
With the integration broken, the automations are no longer working. Could the most recent Shield Experience update have broken it?
Since Kodi recently updated on my Shield TV, the RAR addon is not working properly.
When trying to load.a RARed video, I get spinning disks and nothing plays. I then need to reboot the Shield. Once in a while, the video will actually take forever then start playing.
Anyone know of a fix? TIA.
Edit: I deleted the Kodi cache and data under Apps, unistalled and reinstalled Kodi and this did not fix it.
Just got a popup on my BBC app (the side loaded one that handles 1080p better) saying that it's being discontinued on this device from 30th September 2026... Anyone else seeing this? I wonder if this is any version of the app or perhaps just an issue with this side loaded version.
I recently picked up an Onn Voice Remote to use with my Nvidia Shield. There was quite a bit of configuration work that needed to be done to get all the buttons working. To save others from difficulty, I put together the following guide. The Onn Voice Remote can be purchased at Wal Mart for about $13.
My hardware/software:
The Nvidia Shield with the 9.2 experience installed.
An Onn Voice Remote
tvQuickActions application from the Google Play store
This is used for button re-mapping
First:
Go into Settings > Apps > Security and Restrictions
Turn Bluetooth LE Privacy off (this will require a reboot)
Next:
Pair the remote in bluetooth settings
Turn on both options under “Simplified wake buttons”
Turn off “Input devices” under “Disconnect BT Accessories on Sleep”
(Optional) turn on Nvidia Share under Settings > Device Preferences > System
Out of the box, several buttons will work properly including:
Home
Back
Up, Down, Left, Right, OK
Microphone (voice search, Google Assistant)
Volume up/down and mute
However, several buttons will require re-mapping in order to be made useful:
Guide button (looks like a TV icon)
The account or profile button (looks like a person/silhouette icon)
The asterisk button
To make matters worse, five of the buttons will appear with the same key code!
Settings
All four of the app short cut buttons
In order to work around this, multiple steps must be taken:
Enable developer options on the Shield
In developer options, turn on network debugging
Install tvQuickActions app
Within that app go to Settings > ADB -
Turn ON ADB speed up
Go to “Custom getevent codes”
Create codes for all buttons that utilize the same key code (all 4 app short cut buttons and Settings)
Then go to Mappings > Add Button
When adding a button, turn ON “Use only ADB for this remap”
Click one of the problematic buttons (app short cuts, Settings)
Map the buttons to apps
Here's how I mapped my own buttons
YouTube button > SmartTube and/or TizenTube
Netflix > Plex and/or Fandango
Disney+ > Hulu and/or MoviesAnywhere
Paramount+ > HBO
Settings > Settings app
All other buttons can be remapped in the normal manner (without the use of ADB). Here's what I did:
Account or profile button > CX File Explorer
Home button > Custom Launcher (AT4K) and Recent app switcher
Guide/TV button > HD Home Run
Asterisk button > Nvidia Gamecast Service
This button will bring up the screen recording / screen shot menu
Regarding Channel Up/Down
These buttons seem work properly in HD HomeRun and Pluto
Otherwise, they’re not often used.
Regarding the Power button:
The button will turn everything off, but turning the devices back on again requires the bluetooth steps outlined above.
I still have a remaining mystery regarding the infrared emitter on the remote. This can evidently be configured using the software in Onn streaming devices, but I don't have one of those at the moment. If anyone has a work around for this, I'd love to hear about it.
I’ve been testing an older Shield TV pro (2019) with GFN, and honestly, I didn’t expect it to perform this well in 2026.
Ping numbers alone don’t tell you the real gaming latency, so I recorded the controller and TV simultaneously using a 240 fps high-speed camera.
The test measured the complete chain from a DualShock 4 button press to the first visible boost flame in Rocket League:
Controller → Shield → Wi-Fi → GFN server → video decode → TV
Three measurements:
57 ms
53 ms
61 ms
avg: approximately 57 ms
The setup:
NVIDIA Shield TV
DualShock 4 over BT
5 GHz WiFi
GFN free tier
GFN network latency: approximately 10 ms
LG TV (5ms input) in Game Mode
I also ran a five minute network stability test directly from the Shield:
1,500 packets to the router
0% packet loss
1.02 ms average local latency
0.38 ms latency variation
Highest observed spike: 5.32 ms
Internet latency averaged 10.67 ms with 0% packet loss.
This wasn’t a laboratory LDAT test, but recording the physical input and screen reaction at 240 fps gives a resolution of 4.17 ms per frame. The three results were also within only 8 ms of each other.
So result is around 57 ms end to end total latency at 60 fps.
I expected the Shield’s old WiFi 5 hardware or decoder to be the bottleneck, but apparently not. It feels surprisingly close to native console gaming, and I genuinely don’t notice the delay during normal gameplay.
Ethernet would provide extra protection against interference, for sure, but with these results it probably wouldn’t materially reduce the average latency.
Pretty impressive for hardware this old, especially over WiFi.
It buffers, it stops, it refuses to play. I have reinstalled; I have rebooted. It played a little and then stopped. This came out of nowhere this morning. Is anyone else experiencing this?
I have a Bravia7ii remote which will also control my Nvidia Shield Pro. I have Button Mapper installed on my Shield and successfully changed the behaviour of the Netflix button on my Shield remote.
I would like to change the 6 app buttons on my Bravia remote to start apps on my Shield. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Bravia remote natively controlled the Shield so it would be handy if I could reassign the app buttons.
When I press an app button, eg Crunchyroll, it tells me the app is not installed. If I install BM on my Bravia Google TV and enable Bypass system UI, I can remap the button to start an app in Google TV. If I do the same on my Shield, I still get the app not installed message.
My Bravia remote seems happy enough controlling my Shield. Is there a way I can get Button Mapper on the Shield to amend the response to app buttons on my Bravia remote?
(So, just to be clear, I’m trying to do this on my Shield. This post was removed on r/AndroidTV by MODS who saw the words Google TV and said it should be posted in that sub)
Edit: doing some testing:
- streaming tv and movies with the apple tv app works with atmos, but this is a digital purchase.
- same behavior with tv app as with shield app
- forcing new HDMI handshake does not help
- it drops Atmos after about 5 seconds
Anyone have this airmouse and use it for the shield? It works good, but for the life of me I CANNOT get the IR learning to learn the volume +/- from either the shield remote OR my soundbars original remote. But, I somehow managed to get the X9-B power button to learn the volume + from my soundbars original remote, so I know it's actually learning that IR signal.
I’m looking for testers for CEC Ninja, an Android TV app that lets you assign Android actions to unused buttons on your TV remote.
The app first helps you test every button on your remote and identifies which ones Android TV can detect through HDMI-CEC. You can then assign useful actions such as:
Home
Recent Apps
Menu
Other Android TV functions
Each detected button can trigger up to three different actions:
Single press
Double press
Long press
For example, a button you never use on your TV remote could open Recent Apps with a single press, return Home with a double press and launch an app with a long press.
CEC Ninja has currently been developed and tested mainly on NVIDIA Shield, so I’m especially interested in testing it with different TVs, remotes and Android TV/Google TV devices.
A small companion phone app, CEC Ninja Link, is used once to grant the required permission through ADB wireless debugging. It can be uninstalled after authorization is complete.
I’m looking for:
NVIDIA Shield owners
Android TV or Google TV users
Different TV and remote-control brands
People willing to report bugs and unexpected behaviour
Short feedback about setup and usability
In exchange:
Early access
Free lifetime access to the app
Direct contact with the developer
Your name in the beta contributors list, if you want
The app is currently in closed testing on Google Play. If you’re interested, comment or send me a DM with the Google account used on your Android TV device. I’ll add you to the tester list and send you the opt-in link.
the emby for android tv app has suddenly stopped playing audio on a ton of content, same exact file works fine under the new "emby" app. the new app sucks asssss and I'm very upset but I don't want to get on github and make myself look like an ass. thanks
I have a Shield Pro and have just randomly found out you can record with it.
I use my Shield with an IPTV service and would like the option to record something whilst I'm watching it. For instance I was watching The Open Golf yesterday and had to go out halfway through. I'd have liked to have been able to record it and watch it when I came home and skip the ads.
How would I do this?
Is it just a case of connecting an external hard drive and pressing the 'circle' button for three seconds?
Assume I'm a complete noob and explain how I can do this?
From thunderstorms to underwater worlds, everything in this video is rendered live on the TV, nothing is a video loop. And with live mode on, the weather scenes match what's actually happening outside your window. Free for everyone in the latest Monet Launcher update.
Everything on my Shield is like this. The only thing different is a replacement NVIDIA remote but I used it the other night without a problem. I've rebooted a couple of times. Very weird.
I've tried factory resetting, debloat, different launchers, different remotes, but whatever I do, my microphone search doesn't work on the shield TV pro 2019. Not even when I use my smartphone as remote, so im fairly certain it's software tripping out.
How do I fix my mic search? I hate typing on this remote 😂
Bought a "Shield TV Pro" on Amazon and Dolby Vision straight up isn't there. I've got another Pro that works fine for comparison, same LG C4, same cable, same HDMI port even (swapped them one at a time into it), and the old one gets DV every single time, new one never does.
Stuff I already tried before posting:
- fully updated firmware, nothing changed
- Custom Display Mode has zero Dolby Vision Ready options, not even greyed out, just not there
- no AI Upscaling option in Display & Sound either, the working unit has it
- full factory reset, still nothing
- checked the label on the bottom of both, both say Model P2897 so that tells me nothing. Old one says Made in China, new one says Made in Vietnam, different serial format too, but no idea if that actually correlates to a specific year
thanks!
EDIT: Confirmed, I received a 2017 even though Amazon stated it's a 2019, I'm going to return it. Also, Amazon themselves were the seller, so I don't know what happened. This is the second time Amazon US has scammed me. Two years ago or so I received an empty Pixel phone box
I tried to copy a bunch of retro games ROMs into the Shield, apparently there was no enough space and it let the copying happen until there was literally no space left for the system to work. Now it boots and enters into an unusable loop.
First, how does this happen to a serious device? This is likely the most stupid flaw I've encountered in a lifetime of using stuff.
Second, how do I proceed? How do I recover from this state?
HI all, I am using my Shield TV Pro with Projectivy Launcher. I am playing it on my S95C OLED TV.
I am not sure, but all of a sudden I have noticed poor resolution with my kodi fanart backgrounds; assuming it was an issue with Kodi, it wasn't until I noticed my Projectivy Launcher wallpaper was also low resolution.
I tried applying a crisp 4k wallpaper to Projectivy Launcher, and it's still displaying poorly.
My TV settings are fine, and video playback is phenomenal.
Are there any settings on my Shield TV Pro that could be causing this? It's set to 4k resolution, 59hz and color match On in the display settings.
My content: 100% IPTV content: 95% sitcoms, movies + 5% live sports.
I have read that the AI upscaling feature is main reason why I should choose the Shield Pro. Are there any downsides or would you consider any other box?
I recently set up a Nvidia Shield Pro to be my streaming hub and using Kodi to access my content stored on my HDD. I am running ProjectIvy as a launcher and have the Shield connected via Ethernet. Everything is running smoothly and I am so excited about it, except for two apps.
Hulu and Peacock. Both apps do the same thing. They will start playing whatever I have selected, it will play for about 30 seconds, and then glitch and then the app crashes. This happens when it is an ad or when it is the program. After about 30 seconds it crashes. It seems to be remembering the location within the episode because if I try it again, it has progressed a bit from where I started the previous time.
I tried reducing settings thinking I was bogging down the Shield. I have tried uninstalling, clearing the cache, tried logging out of the accounts, but all to no end. The same issue persists. I have tested all of the other streaming apps I use and they work fine (Netflix, Roku, Tubi, Pluto, etc). I see a lot of threads about the Hulu app being trash for the Shield, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this and wondered how you got past it (if you were able to).
I am so close to having the setup that works perfectly for our household... Just this last hurdle to figure out.
