Pafsanias wrote:
Can you also tell us about your experience with the Nvidia Shield? Is it the 2017 version?
I'm mostly interested in stable, "Setup & forget" appliances like OpenElec Raspis, Squeezeboxes, Sonoses. You don't even have to power on these devices after a power failure, they just work all the time. Does the Shield with Kodi fall into this category?
Yes, I got the 2017 16GB version (ShieldTV).
My situation was a bit different than most. I was looking for an all-in-one solution for my wife. She was sick and tired of switching between the AppleTV (SlingTV, Netflix, OTA) and the HTPC (movies and Amazon Prime Video). The AppleTV does not play any of my BD remuxes so I still have to have the HTPC in the chain.
The Shield plays every single remux I have thrown at it; MKV+FLAC(7.1)+PGS and MKVs with HD audio without any issues. There is minor audio start pause on HD audio when starting/pausing/seeking but never more than 1-2 seconds. Not an issue. All FLAC remuxes are instant playback.
I really like the fact that it does not matter what app I am running when I launch a title from 10Muse. SPMC launches (even if not running) and the movie starts playing. When the movie stops it goes back to the last used app.
Not sure about power-on after power failure as I don't want to force one (long story about hard drive crashes) but the power-on is seamlessif you use HDMI CEC with my Onkyo receiver and Vizio TV. When I push Sleep on the Shield, the AVR and the TV both turn off. When I want to turn them on all I have to do is push the Home button on the Shield remote and they come on. I could never get CEC running properly with an HTPC or the AppleTV. Something always failed to power on/off. The Shield has not failed once so far.
DVR features are now built-in with Live Channels (TV) on the Shield if you use the HDHomerun (not sure if they work with every tuner but I am sure it will). Don't even have to pay for that feature if you don't want the extra stuff on other apps.
The ShieldTV remote is a bit weaker than the Pro version since it only uses Bluetooth (it does have IR for other devices but the Shield itself only uses BT on the TV version). So if you really want to use a Universal remote you will need to buy a FLIRC USB dongle and then just program your URC to control the Shield. I will be doing that in the next few weeks.
So as far as seamless, the Shield seems to be the first all-in-one solution that I have found. I am very impressed with this little box. I hate to say since it uses Android and I am not very happy with Google but I am willing to forgo that as this thing is so easy to work.