nVidia Shield

Is there going to be a Shield 2020 edition or another version launching within the next 3 months?

 

I don't know why they would release another version so soon. Wouldn't make any sense.

 

Oh, for some reason I was thinking the 2019 version was released earlier than it was and not in October 2019. Also wondered if they'd be like the other media streaming hardware that sees yearly refreshes. Like maybe they'd refresh to offer Wifi 6.

 

Given the Shield history, there probably won't be another version for at least 2-3 more years.

 

NVIDIA pushes Android 11 on shield TV across all generations (clubic.com)
January 12, 2022

 

Wow I'm surprised. I had the impression they were done supporting it considering the last update was Jan 2021.

On a related note, I bought Half Life 2 to play on my old Shield Tablet K1 a few months back. I was going to get Doom3 as well but apparently it is no longer supported on the Tablet because the game no longer fits in 2GB RAM after updates. Half Life 2 seems to barely fit because background tasks even Google Play Games get killed eventually. I'm sure all the apps are using more RAM than they did years ago.

 

An updated hardware based on 7nm oder below would surely be appreciated by me. I still use my Shield from 2015 for Plex.

 

I wouldn't expect anything until they release a chip with tensor cores for dlss

 

What would they really need DLSS for on the Shield?

 

Valve has done a lot of work to get games running on proton really well. Shield 2 with dlss could let people play games at 720p in a tiny box upscaled to 4k with pretty good results.

 

IMO Nvidia will focus on pushing gamers to their cloud subscription service.

 

So what's the advantage of a tegra x2 vs a tegra with tensor cores ? The newer chip will be better in almost every way except perhaps size. If people are going to spend $50-$100 why let powerful hardware sit idle for simple cloud streaming. They could stay on older micron processes and just keep making tegra x2s on whatever they are using now for that.

They can also use the tensor cores to do something similar to what microsoft is doing in xcloud with post stream image manipulation

 

I wasn't aware they're making a new Tegra, I thought you were positing that they should create a new Tegra with tensors?

The current Shields already have an AI 4k upscaler which I assume could be utilized for cloud gaming.

 

Nvidia announced Xavier in 2016 which released in 2019. It had Tensor proccessing units and based on volta

I believe they announced Atlan last year which is using the grace next cpu and ampere next gpu. It also has a data processing unit and other stuff. Its designed around lpddr5. I think that is to new as Orin hasn't even released yet which is using 12 cortex a78ae and an ampere gpu. That was announced in 2018 so I'd imagine it would hit this year in products.

It's why I don't see why nvidia would put in older chips in a new shield. I'd assume whatever they put in their next shield is what Nintendo will get or at least a variation (and even if nintendo launches after a new shield they may still go with lower specs than what's in the shield) so it would make porting to the shield really easy . I think Nvidia would be extremely foolish to give up the free work Valve has done on proton and the developers of the games are doing on proton and then all the developers targeting the next nintendo platform.

 

Well that might eventually happen but as far as Nvidia is concerned, there's little reason to utilize a more modern SoC yet as the current one serves the market just fine. In another year or 3, once Xavier is cheaper to produce, maybe we'll see a new version of the Shield? I know it's not a massively popular device (given the $150-200 entry price), but it's the best on the market and as people move to streaming, and now cloud gaming more and more, it can only get more popular.

I'm not sure how much software engineering they have dedicated to Shield, I can't imagine it's much at all. So unless Google themselves incorporate work done on Proton into their Android TV OS, I doubt Nvidia would customize it that heavily.

 

I feel like the only people who would consider buying it are really just people who want what they think is better playback of rips.

I noticed the gamepad isn't sold in stores anymore from what I've seen. That might be related to staying non competitive with Nintendo.

 

I still don't agree , what is the point of an nvidia shield with a decade old apu ? There are plenty of other options out there that would be much better at emulation , video playback and so on and so forth.

 

Emulation wouldn't be a consideration for Nvidia. The Shield is not a product for tinkerers, that's what a PC is for, namely a HTPC. It's meant to be an enclosed interface for accessing streaming content, playing Android games and cloud gaming.

The current shield is capable of 4k/60 playback with Atmos and Dolby Vision/HDR10, along with AI upscaling for older content. What are you looking for beyond that which might be relevant to consumers?

There might be better hardware out there that's capable of more, but for what the Shield is designed for, what exactly are you after? 1080p gaming with PC-level graphics? Again that goes back to what Nvidia thinks is useful for consumers for a TV-connected device, not overboard for a tiny minority of enthusiasts, and where they want gamers to end up beyond what they might have for consoles (ie. their cloud gaming subscriptions).

 

Again then , what is the point if the current shield is capable of 4k/60 playback with all the features ? Why a new shield then ?

 

I don't know? You're the one that wanted DLSS in a Shield in a new SoC w/Tensors. I'm just making the case why Nvidia likely wouldn't consider it worthwhile.