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I have one of them, and been using it daily since I bought it in 2016. Bought a cheap Bluetooth remote control from AliExpress which was an upgrade over the Log

I have one of them, and been using it daily since I bought it in 2016. Bought a cheap Bluetooth remote control from AliExpress which was an upgrade over the Logitech Harmony crap I had earlier. If it were to break, knock on wood it won't happen, what options are there? I have tried to look but haven't really found anything that is free of Chinese backdoors and has decent hardware. For just Plex or Jellyfin a N100 box or similar could do, but I want easy launch of HBO, YouTube etc. And I need that remote control option.

VerifiedReports 9mo ago
From what I've seen in forums where people asked this, the answer is: nothing. I only have two devices providing material to my media system: a Shield Pro and a Blu-Ray player. The Shield is the critical element, used daily for streaming and playing local media from a USB-connected SSD. I hope Nvidia revises the Shield with up-to-date hardware and maintains its flexible nature. It's a pretty cool product. The biggest shortcomings I've encountered are the fault of moronic media companies. Great example: Spectrum (the cable company). These dolts have an Android application with which subscribers can watch content. But it doesn't run on Android TVs. It's called "Spectrum TV." It's so gallingly stupid that I hate rewarding them with money every month. Oh, and I love how they addressed the goddamned Netflix button. If you so much as LOOK at the remote, Netflix launches in the middle of whatever you're watching. I actually removed the button from the remote entirely.
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- scrollop 9mo ago
  Netflix button fix- Get the app "button mapper" (or similar name) On the free version, you can configure the button for- one click of the netflix button to open Plex, and 2 clicks to open something else (eg youtube). This also works when the shield and TV are off- One click of the netflix button turns on the shield, which turns on the tv.
  - VerifiedReports 9mo ago
    Thanks. I should get around to just remapping it. I've had to replace my original remote, and the new one still has the Netflix button.
    - cf100clunk 9mo ago
      With a SofaBaton remote and some button reassignments using the Button Mapper app, everything is just right now, and pairing a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard was easy.
  - mbushey 9mo ago
    Neither Button Mapper nor Buttons Mapper work. You have to disassemble the remote and put a piece of paper or tape between the contacts.
QuiEgo 9mo ago
The next best is probably an Apple TV 4k, but it can't direct play as many audio and video formats as the Shield.
- Agingcoder 9mo ago
  It also can’t stream games
  - altano 9mo ago
    Moonlight on the Apple TV works great.
  - astafrig 9mo ago
    It is trivially easy to know that this isn’t true.
- lotsofpulp 9mo ago
  I use the Infuse app, and I haven't seen it fail with anything yet.
  - kristofferR 9mo ago
    It doesn't support TrueHD Atmos (UHD Blu-ray Atmos in other words). It also doesn't support FEL. That said, it supports JOC Atmos (the streaming service version) and you can convert all your TrueHD Atmos to JOC Atmos easily.
- Gareth321 9mo ago
  Apple TV is great except they prevent installing software which is not on their App Store. A big one for me is SmartTubeNext, which removes YouTube ads and sponsored segments. I can't even pay for that if I wanted to.
reddalo 9mo ago
I've been using the Thomson Google TV Streaming Stick. It's cheap (~40 euros) and it works surprisingly well for what it is. It's sold in Europe, but I think you can find the same product in the US at Walmart, rebranded as Onn+ Streaming Device. It's not as powerful as an Nvidia Shield, of course, but at least is not a random product from Temu riddled with spyware.
- littlecranky67 9mo ago
  I would suspect it being a Google product, it also is riddled with spyware.
  - reddalo 9mo ago
    It's not made by Google, it's just certified. So it must have the same amount of spyware that the Nvidia Shield has (which we all know it's not zero).
- dmos62 9mo ago
  Not sure how it compares, but Xiaomi TV Box S is similarly priced. It's physically bigger (slightly), which somehow comforts me a bit.
mavamaarten 9mo ago
Google TV Streamer?
reppap 9mo ago
The built-in OS on my LG is honestly good enough for me. There's a jellyfin client in the LG app store that works well enough (it's just a wrapper for a browser client as I understand it). But I only use my TV to watch shows/movies, not sure about other usecases.
- magicalhippo 9mo ago
  Mine is a Samsung TV from same year as my Shield, and its Tizen-based offering is the reason I got the Shield to begin with.
neumann 9mo ago
I have bought three for all my relatives since 2015, and finally bought one for myself. They are still in stock and sold by local brick and mortar retailers as well as online! I use the n100 for jellyfin, and shield for streaming and controller with jellyfin client.

VerifiedReports 9mo ago

From what I've seen in forums where people asked this, the answer is: nothing. I only have two devices providing material to my media system: a Shield Pro and a Blu-Ray player. The Shield is the critical element, used daily for streaming and playing local media from a USB-connected SSD. I hope Nvidia revises the Shield with up-to-date hardware and maintains its flexible nature. It's a pretty cool product. The biggest shortcomings I've encountered are the fault of moronic media companies. Great example: Spectrum (the cable company). These dolts have an Android application with which subscribers can watch content. But it doesn't run on Android TVs. It's called "Spectrum TV." It's so gallingly stupid that I hate rewarding them with money every month. Oh, and I love how they addressed the goddamned Netflix button. If you so much as LOOK at the remote, Netflix launches in the middle of whatever you're watching. I actually removed the button from the remote entirely.

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
scrollop 9mo ago
Netflix button fix- Get the app "button mapper" (or similar name) On the free version, you can configure the button for- one click of the netflix button to open Plex, and 2 clicks to open something else (eg youtube). This also works when the shield and TV are off- One click of the netflix button turns on the shield, which turns on the tv.
- VerifiedReports 9mo ago
  Thanks. I should get around to just remapping it. I've had to replace my original remote, and the new one still has the Netflix button.
  - cf100clunk 9mo ago
    With a SofaBaton remote and some button reassignments using the Button Mapper app, everything is just right now, and pairing a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard was easy.
- mbushey 9mo ago
  Neither Button Mapper nor Buttons Mapper work. You have to disassemble the remote and put a piece of paper or tape between the contacts.

QuiEgo 9mo ago

The next best is probably an Apple TV 4k, but it can't direct play as many audio and video formats as the Shield.

Agingcoder 9mo ago
It also can’t stream games
- altano 9mo ago
  Moonlight on the Apple TV works great.
- astafrig 9mo ago
  It is trivially easy to know that this isn’t true.
lotsofpulp 9mo ago
I use the Infuse app, and I haven't seen it fail with anything yet.
- kristofferR 9mo ago
  It doesn't support TrueHD Atmos (UHD Blu-ray Atmos in other words). It also doesn't support FEL. That said, it supports JOC Atmos (the streaming service version) and you can convert all your TrueHD Atmos to JOC Atmos easily.
Gareth321 9mo ago
Apple TV is great except they prevent installing software which is not on their App Store. A big one for me is SmartTubeNext, which removes YouTube ads and sponsored segments. I can't even pay for that if I wanted to.

reddalo 9mo ago

I've been using the Thomson Google TV Streaming Stick. It's cheap (~40 euros) and it works surprisingly well for what it is. It's sold in Europe, but I think you can find the same product in the US at Walmart, rebranded as Onn+ Streaming Device. It's not as powerful as an Nvidia Shield, of course, but at least is not a random product from Temu riddled with spyware.

littlecranky67 9mo ago
I would suspect it being a Google product, it also is riddled with spyware.
- reddalo 9mo ago
  It's not made by Google, it's just certified. So it must have the same amount of spyware that the Nvidia Shield has (which we all know it's not zero).
dmos62 9mo ago
Not sure how it compares, but Xiaomi TV Box S is similarly priced. It's physically bigger (slightly), which somehow comforts me a bit.

mavamaarten 9mo ago

Google TV Streamer?

reppap 9mo ago

The built-in OS on my LG is honestly good enough for me. There's a jellyfin client in the LG app store that works well enough (it's just a wrapper for a browser client as I understand it). But I only use my TV to watch shows/movies, not sure about other usecases.

magicalhippo 9mo ago
Mine is a Samsung TV from same year as my Shield, and its Tizen-based offering is the reason I got the Shield to begin with.

neumann 9mo ago

I have bought three for all my relatives since 2015, and finally bought one for myself. They are still in stock and sold by local brick and mortar retailers as well as online! I use the n100 for jellyfin, and shield for streaming and controller with jellyfin client.