A Nvidia Shield Replacment

It was a pretty long run. My Nvidia Shield (tube) has been serving my Netflix, local IPTV, Prime, and all my streaming requirements. Jay and I got the old device in 2020 after getting a new television during COVID restrictions. We got back on one of the last flights out of Malaysia. So some delivery guy got the box with the widescreen to the outside of our doorway, knocked on the door, and ran towards the elevator. My little device was been starting to show its age although it is far more capable than the software built into most TVs. 

   

Lots of things have been attached to my televisions over the years. I had an HD TV satellite receiver nearly twenty years ago. 

I started to set up the replacement streamer today. It fits right into the Google Home environment in the apartment. The software has recently been updated to use Gemini AI. It has prompted me to do some online research and rethink some of our viewing habits. I set up most of the software today but will completely replace the Shield tomorrow.

Old Habits

We have watched the Survivor TV series since it started. We still do. In fact, we are watching a streamed episode right at the moment.

   

I finally let my Nvidia Shield update to Experience 9.2 this morning. The device has been responsible for all my video streaming services for almost five years. It feels like new because of the new software upgrade.

Power Cord Triumphs

This is the second time this same photo has been included in 'my eJournal and images'. 

It last appeared here when I bought the power cord during the second week of June. Since then, it's been sitting in the closet. Luckily, the other day, I did a bit of cleaning and threw away all the old boxes of products that I'd kept for no reason. Some were, you know, small like new phone boxes or other electronic devices. It seemed as though one should keep the box until one was sure the item worked. However, I had several old phone boxes. Obviously, they had worked, so I had armfuls of boxes to bring to the enormous cardboard container dumpster in our building. 

This was when I found this power cord again in its box. I originally bought it as it has a fuse and has a lot of space between the eight power outlets. I had far too many things plugged into an ordinary extension cord in the TV stand. I guess I was afraid to fight with all the dust bunnies during these past few months.

   

Today, I fished around the one zillion wires for the home theatre system, the TV, an NVidea Shield, a Mini-PC, and some TV lighting. Now everything is plugged into the new power cord and I still have at least three normal outlets and three USB outlets free. The inside of the stand has been cleaned too. I got that little rush of accomplishment that nearly made the whole frustrating effort seem worthwhile.

He, Who Dies With the Most Toys, Wins!

It used to be so easy to spend money on electronics. Nowadays, I have to work much harder to do so. 

I remember needing to regularly upgrade a single computer system for thousands of strikingly more valuable dollars. Thankfully, my expenditures have fallen during the last four decades. I simply have more devices. 

We have the large all-in-one I'm typing on right now. We have a traveling Windows laptop for vacations. We each have an Android phone plus one Android tablet. Also, there's an Nvidia streaming box and a half dozen Google Home speakers and hubs scattered around the apartment. 

So surely, I don't require another computer. However, rather than spending thousands, I ordered a tiny Windows 11 PC that should arrive by Amazon tomorrow. I could use it as a media server and connect the networked movie drive to it. Or I could keep it updated as a backup home PC. Maybe I'll pop it in a backpack when we travel. Any flatscreen TV could attach to one if its two HDMI ports. 

Whatever its ultimate use, I couldn't resist the urge to play with a new device boasting a one-TB SSD, 16 GB of RAM, and an Intel Alder Lake-N95 for a total of just a few hundred of today's much-less-valuable dollars.

Finding Movies Good Enough to Watch Again

 

There's a portable hard drive on our home network that is expressly for movies. Today, it contains two new classics; in this case, one Italian and one French. They were mentioned last night in a conversation with friends. 

Over the last one hundred or so years, there have been many moving pictures that should be considered common knowledge for all.  We are in interesting times now that one can curate titles themselves.

Making Use of What I Have

I've been eyeing a NAS drive for our home network. I have a mobile drive with a collection of movies and it'd be handy to be able to stream them from the network rather than directly plugging the drive into the television.  For example, on my Nvidia Shield, there are excellent programs to sort and maintain info on my entire, current collection of around 1,000 titles.

   

The cheapest, 2-bay network-accessible drive enclosures go for about $CA 250 and that's without the actual disks!  I cannot justify paying over $CA 500 for this solution. So, I dug through the closet and located a really old Android TV box. 

I should be able to plug my existing 5TB mobile drive into the device. I won't even bother with video output from the box as I'll just need the movie files' network locations to play them. I may even be able to plug this box/disc combo into the extra ethernet port on the bedroom mesh router.  Yay, something new to try.

Yay! More Cables to Hide!

It has been interesting getting up to speed on a new cable modem and mesh wifi router with satellite.  I really enjoy researching and learning about new and evolving tech.  However, for the third day in a row, I ordered products on Amazon Canada.  Fortunately, I only spent CA$15 today. 

My two TP-Link Deco X60 devices arrive tomorrow and will be generally unnoticeable.  They look like four-inch, white, plastic cans. One will sit in the bedroom but the main one has to sit right near our TV stand. That is where coaxial cable runs into the apartment, and it, sort of, works out.

I presently use two ethernet jacks for wired internet for our LG TV and Nvidia Shield streaming device. Yet, the new, unobtrusive plastic can has just one free port.  I want to continue having my TV and Shield hardwired though. 

   

So, I had to order this TP-Link 5 Port Gigabit Ethernet Network Switch.  Oh goodie, more things to plug into that octopus-looking wall outlet and more wires to tuck on top of the current spaghetti mess behind the TV stand!

What's Your Favourite Movie?

For years, I've had a dedicated mobile drive for a collection of popular and favourite movies. The current red Seagate drive is 5TB with lots of remaining space. I have around a thousand mp4 and mkv files preserving films from the 1920s through this very year. 

Most recently, I'd been accessing the digital accumulation by plugging the drive's USB directly into our LG TV.  Its WebOS software player worked well for the task. 

I am extremely organized and have accurate file names.  The drive has folders for every decade and subfolders for individual years.  Still, that was not a very efficient way of browsing hundreds of feature films.  Therefore, today, I decided to directly plug the Seagate drive into my modem/router.  

Modifying the router's firmware to use one empty USB port was not very difficult.  Then, I set up the drive as network storage so all devices in my apartment can access its folders.  Android was a cinch but getting Windows 10 to access via BCRM-LVG took a bit of sleuthing.  Yay, success.  There is no more need for plugging and unplugging the movie drive!

      

I happened to find the most marvellous Android software for my Nvidia Shield. It's called Nova Media Player.  It is an open-source app based on the former Archos player.  As it allows for passthrough, my receiver can best decide what to do with the audio tracks.

Perhaps the best part is how Nova runs a great library front-end.  It scrapes IMDb for movie posters and tons of information.  It automatically organizes everything into a large number of categories.  Because a TV-friendly version runs on my Shield device, I can simply pick up the remote and, by saying the name of the title, search the collection.  Every time I add a new file, the app will automatically add it to the easy-to-use menus.  It has been years since my movies have been this well organized.

I Like Finding Technical Solutions

I pay only a small fee for access to local television via my Internet provider. I don't pay for any extra channels but we find that we require the local feeds for BCTV and Global Vancouver. We watch TV news in the mornings and evenings. Occasional the guys at Surf TV update their app. 

This morning, I downloaded a version called 16.3 from their website. I was running an app named version 18.1 and assume they've changed their numbering conventions.  Next, I had to sideload onto my Nvidia Shield.  However, as the app isn't designed for Android TV, I have to create a menu icon so it can be easily selected from the home screen. 

It doesn't take a whole lot of time but it's inconvenient. I did this just now. 

 

Success in Avoiding Messy Menus!

I love my new Nvidia Shield TV for its power and flexibility.  It is a small cylindrical device that hides right inside the TV stand.  It surely beats the two, odd Android boxes I've owned over the years. In fact, I am pretty sure that we now won't be bothering to switch to apps running on our new LG TV as it'll pretty much stay on HDMI Input 1.  The streaming device provides everything we will need to view on the big screen.

   

One major headache with Nvidia's menu is that it doesn't recognize apps unless they're loaded directly from the Google Play Store.  However, we get IPTV for our local, Canadian channels through a local provider, Surf Internet. Unfortunately, their television app must be sideloaded.  Even getting the APK file onto the Shield for installation took a little planning.  I set up the Nvidia device to share files on my home network; therefore, I was able to drag and drop from our main Win 10 computer.  

Next, I had to search around for an easy way to access Surf TV through the menuing interface. The most elegant way was to use the online app atvlauncher.trekgonewild.de/index.php and build an additional APK.  

I had nearly decided to simply use a side-launcher app.  They are ugly and not very good at determining which apps should be included.  My results were definitely worth the effort and now I do not fear the thought of sideloading any apps not exclusively designed for my Nvidia Shield TV.

Another Device I'm Convinced I Need

Today, I found out that my TV provider has created a new version of their Android APK. Unfortunately, I discovered that it requires Android Oreo at minimum. The current TV box I'm using is too old. So, I started looking on Amazon Canada today for a new, cheap, streaming box. 

Yet, you know me. I had to know specifics. I found myself writing a question on a specific device that went something like this: 

"Does this device allow HDMI passthrough of a Dolby 

Atmos signal to a capable receiver?"

In typical Amazon fashion, they queried an average Joe customer who felt the need to answer that he/she really didn't know what I was talking about.

Well, I'm not surprised as it was a relatively technical question.  My experience of not being able to find specifics has pointed me towards a new Nvidia Shield TV.  Damn, there's is always something for me to buy, isn't there?