Nvidia has unveiled the latest revision of its ever so popular Shield Android TV box. According to the company, the Shield now supports 4K HDR streaming and, interestingly, the Google Assistant too. That’s right, Nvidia has made the Shield TV… smarter, and claims that it is three times more powerful compared to other current streaming boxes in the market.
Nvidia’s brand new Shield Android TV supports 4K video content from major streaming platforms such as Nextflix and for the first time ever, Amazon Video. That said, older Shield TVs will also be able to stream 4K video content from the aforementioned platforms thanks to an upcoming software update by Nvidia.
The most exiting feature of the new Nvidia Shield TV, however, is support for Google Assistant. The Google Assistant on the new Nvidia Shield TV works similarly to Google Home. Interestingly, Nvidia has also announced a peripheral for the Shield TV called the Nvidia Spot, which is essentially a microphone that can be placed anywhere in one’s home to receive voice commands for the Google Assistant.
The Nvidia Shield TV gets even smarter with integration support for the SmartThings smart home hub, which connects all ‘smart’ home appliances with one another. This means that consumers will be able to command a smart coffee machine to, say, make coffee, by simply reciting the phrase “Okay Google, make coffee” – or something like that.
Of course, gaming was also highlighted, albeit briefly. Nvidia has mentioned that the new Shield TV also comes with support for thousands of PC games, including the release of a Steam app for the Shield, which will allow gamers to stream 4K HDR games to their smart TVs.
Nvidia’s brand new Shield Android TV is currently available for pre-order for a price of US$199.99 (about RM897). A beefier variant, Shield Pro, is also available for US$299.99 (about RM1,341) and it ships with a brand new redesigned Shield controller, a remote, and 500GB of internal storage.
(Source: Nvidia)
