11/7/2022 0 Comments Nvidia shield controller skin![]() ![]() We won’t be focusing on such functionality in this review, though. Unlike older iterations of the Shield TV Pro, this newer model doesn’t come with a gamepad, although you can use your PS4or Xbox One gamepad with it just fine, assuming you own one of those. And, perhaps most importantly for home theater enthusiasts, the Pro can also function as a PLEX Media Server. 8GB (though both are expandable), features two USB 3.0 ports, and can be turned into a SmartThings hub thanks to the sold-separately SmartThings Link. The Pro also has 16GB of internal storage vs. The differences between the two, in addition to the extra RAM in the Pro model, include a wholly different form factor (the basic Shield TV looks like a small tube of 1.57 inches in diameter and 6.5 inches long, whereas the Shield Pro looks more like a miniature video game console, with dimensions of 6.26 inches wide, 3.858 inches deep, and 1.02 inch tall). This technology is built into both currently available Nvidia Shield TV models, including the aforementioned $149 model. And when doing so, it takes into account things like which objects are in the foreground or background, and recognizes eyes and hair and skin and so forth, treating each of them differently. In other words, it’s not looking at a configuration of, say, 1,280 by 720 pixels and using math to blow it up to 3,840 by 2,160 pixels it’s instead taking a configuration of 1280 by 720 pixels and using deep learning to instead predict the configuration of 3,840 by 2,160 that would look like this configuration of 1,280 by 720 pixels if it were downscaled. Upscaling starts with a neural network that has been trained by way of a massive library of low- and high-resolution images that then looks at a low-resolution image and imagines what a high-resolution image downscaled to that resolution would look like. Unlike basic upscaling, which relies on different forms of interpolation to increase the pixel-count of low-resolution material to fit a higher-resolution screen, followed by some form of filtering to ameliorate artifacts, Nvidia’s A.I. Upscaling employed here is the sort that we’ll see in better 8K TVs as manufacturers try to justify all of those extra pixels. Mind you, the Shield TV Pro is only 4K capable, with support for UHD video up to 60 frames per second, at up to 12 bits (in other words, it’s good for UHD HDR10 or Dolby Vision). Upscaling, which is unique among media streamers at the moment and points toward the future of real-time video upscaling in the home, especially as we move from the 4K era into 8K. That fancy hardware powers one of Nvidia Shield’s most compelling features: its A.I. ![]() And the Pro does so mostly thanks to the inclusion of Nvidia’s Tegra X1+ processor, 256-core GPU, and 3GB RAM (1GB more than the $149 Nvidia Shield TV). With no cult of consumer personality feeding wind into its sails, Nvidia has to do a little more to justify its hefty price, especially when you can get a top-of-the-line Roku Ultra streamer for upwards of $100 less. (And before you Apple fanatics rip me yet another new one, keep in mind that it’s a fee I gladly pay every other year for a new iPhone and iPad, so calm down. Only the 64GB variant of the Apple TV 4K matches it in price, and let’s be honest with ourselves here: a fair chunk of that is the “Apple Tax” (aka “Fanboy Fee”) tacked onto pretty much anything that comes out of Cupertino. I say all of that in part to defend (or at least prepare you for) the $199 sticker price of the Nvidia Shield TV Pro, one of the priciest mass-market video streamers you can currently buy. In other words, unless you and I are streaming Netflix via the same (or at least comparable) hardware, we’re not having the same viewing experience, even if we have the same internet speeds and the same display. whatever, and exactly how many megabits-per-second of internet connectivity are required to get the most out of any of these services, our discussion about video streaming is incomplete until we all acknowledge that the device via which we do our streaming matters. But one point that I will continue to drive home until it sticks is that, while we all quibble about the relative performance advantages of Vudu vs. As I argued in a controversial editorial a few months back, streaming isn’t merely the future of home cinema in many ways it’s already the glorious now of home cinema. ![]()
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