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Nvidia Shield is 140$ at gamestop, worth it?

Jeremy said:
you guys should be getting some kickbacks. you're selling me on this thing.

what are the differences between this and the tablet?
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I've had the tablet for about a week now and love it. I needed a tablet so the Shield was never on my radar, but I decided a month ago that I wanted a tablet and after a lot of research I spent way less than I thought I would and am stoked with the result. gaming was genuinly second with films and net first but I've racked up over 15 hours playtime on various games (Half Life 2, 3 hours in and with a controller!) I haven't tried streaming over mobile yet but over home wifi network Wreckfest from the bedroom was awesome) I often work in fields with pretty solid LTE signals so I'm going to give it a shot with a more laid back title. As a gaming device it really has the chops. I'm really impressed by the tablet side of it (Lollipop initial reservations notwithstanding) the screen is great and pixel density is excellent (to these ruined eyes anyway) and performance after 5.0.1 is very good (room for more though) battery life is great compared to my Sammy S4 (bit of Chrome? ok that's half your battery) and the icing on the cake is full tablet control with the controller and headphone jack in the pad itself (big deal for PC gamers who aren't used to it :D) which is great for people who sleep in trucks from time to time!
 
So i'm really into the whole streaming part of the shield but what about outside the home? Is it pretty much useless unless you have another device to stream from or is there a good library of games you can play on the go with it?
 
Maulik said:
So i'm really into the whole streaming part of the shield but what about outside the home? Is it pretty much useless unless you have another device to stream from or is there a good library of games you can play on the go with it?
Click to expand...

android games and emulators. das it mane
 
Just FYI to anyone thinking of buying one of these for streaming PC games: If you've already got an android device and a controller, Limelight does Nvidia GameStream streaming just as well. I'm using it with an Amazon Fire TV Stick to stream PC games to my TV and it's pretty amazing. If you've got a decent router, 1080p at 60fps is definitely doable.
 
I'm thinking between this and the Shield Tablet with a DS4.

tried Limelight on my Amazon FireTV, the graphics didn't look very good.

using a 970 GPU and AC68U router
 
Maulik said:
Can you play any indie steam games natively on the shield?
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Not sure what you're asking here. Steam doesn't make indie games, it's just a platform. There are some games that are available on both Steam and the Google Play store for Android with controller support if that's what you mean. Super Hexagon comes to mind. You would have to purchase them again though.
 
One of the most solid handhelds ever created. Feels fantastic, runs incredibly well. The GameStream stuff is great if you're able to do that. Great device.
 
ZeroX03 said:
Not sure what you're asking here. Steam doesn't make indie games, it's just a platform. There are some games that are available on both Steam and the Google Play store for Android with controller support if that's what you mean. Super Hexagon comes to mind. You would have to purchase them again though.
Click to expand...

Sorry i should have been more clear. What i meant was could you download a game such as hotline miami from steam and play that game on the shield without the need to stream it from your pc?
 
Maulik said:
Sorry i should have been more clear. What i meant was could you download a game such as hotline miami from steam and play that game on the shield without the need to stream it from your pc?
Click to expand...

No, completely different platforms. Shield is Android, it can't natively play anything from Windows. Best you'll get is an Android Humble Bundle where you get both a Steam key and Android apk.

piratepwnsninja said:
One of the most solid handhelds ever created. Feels fantastic, runs incredibly well. The GameStream stuff is great if you're able to do that. Great device.
Click to expand...

Saints Row plays wonderfully on it!
 
I need the bi-annual or so reminder of why I don't shop at GameStop. I tried to buy online and do in store pickup with a store that has it in stock. Unfortunately I'm traveling now and can't pick it up until Monday.

They will hold it until then, but they won't honor the sale price on Monday. They also won't let me pay over the phone, and the option to pay over the web isn't abailable for this item.

Oh well, at least the clock is reset. Worst thing is, my interest is peaked so I'll prob wind up,with the tablet instead.
 
ZeroX03 said:
Yes PS4 to Shield works, and better than Vita mostly due to the form factor and additional shoulder buttons and analog sticks. If you're doing PC to Shield streaming it also has better latency than Vita streaming along with 60fps. Also miniHDMI out - with 1080p - so you can use it like a PlayStation TV as well.



Use software that converts regular/DirectInput to XInput and it works fine for most games.



Other launchers work fine. I played a bunch of 60fps Titanfall on Shield.
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Does it really get 1080p/60 FPS? I thought remote play was, at the PS4 side, limited to 720p/30 regardless of receiver.
 
Is there even that noticeable a difference between 720p and 1080p with the size of the screen?

I think if I got one(for PC streaming), I'd be quite happy to knock the resolution down to 900p or even 720p to get things running at 60fps.
 
Sir TapTap said:
Does it really get 1080p/60 FPS? I thought remote play was, at the PS4 side, limited to 720p/30 regardless of receiver.
Click to expand...

At launch, the Shield was limited to 720p/60 fps. Nvidia has been working on the client since and now it supports 1080p/60fps if your wireless router is up to snuff (or you go wired LAN), nothing less that a 5Ghz dedicated 300Mbps link with good reception will suffice.

Seanspeed said:
Is there even that noticeable a difference between 720p and 1080p with the size of the screen?
Click to expand...

The SHield screen is 720p, so you are good to go with that resolution! Sadly, I don't think there are custom streaming resolutions available.
 
Seanspeed said:
Is there even that noticeable a difference between 720p and 1080p with the size of the screen?

I think if I got one(for PC streaming), I'd be quite happy to knock the resolution down to 900p or even 720p to get things running at 60fps.
Click to expand...
1080p is for Console Mode, I think. When you have it hooked up to your TV.
 
Lonely1 said:
At launch, the Shield was limited to 720p/60 fps. Nvidia has been working on the client since and now it supports 1080p/60fps if your wireless router is up to snuff (or you go wired LAN), nothing less that a 5Ghz dedicated 300Mbps link with good reception will suffice.
Click to expand...

Guy you quoted was asking about PS4 to Shield remote play, which is locked at 30 fps from what I played of it.
 
My tech lust is getting the better of me and I was able to get my best buy to price match. I'll let you guys know if this was worth it or a total bust.
 
I sold mine. It was a cool device but the screen was a bit too small. I honestly prefer steam streaming to my laptop. Plug in an xbox one controller and it works fine. Heck run hdmi out to another TV. I was stuck at work the other day and fired up hamachi and streamed over the wan with minimal issues.
 
Damage Inc said:
I sold mine. It was a cool device but the screen was a bit too small. I honestly prefer steam streaming to my laptop. Plug in an xbox one controller and it works fine. Heck run hdmi out to another TV. I was stuck at work the other day and fired up hamachi and streamed over the wan with minimal issues.
Click to expand...
You can plug the Shield Portable into a TV and stream through it that way as well.
 
Are there other cool uses of the shield? Could you stream your media from the PC to the shield and then out to the television?
 
Maulik said:
Are there other cool uses of the shield? Could you stream your media from the PC to the shield and then out to the television?
Click to expand...

It's just running Android, so yes. XBMC runs on it.

Just got one of these things. Going to have fool with my parents router to get the streaming working.
 
Fuck sake. I'm in the US on holiday atm. Might have to jump on this but I know I'll hardly use it if I do.

I have a Vita, 3DS and Xperia Z3. Why do I want this lol.
 
Sir TapTap said:
Does it really get 1080p/60 FPS? I thought remote play was, at the PS4 side, limited to 720p/30 regardless of receiver.
Click to expand...

Sorry I worded that poorly.

PS4 streaming to anything is limited to 720p/30fps.

Shield can received and output streams up to 1080p/60fps from other sources like your PC.

Maulik said:
Are there other cool uses of the shield? Could you stream your media from the PC to the shield and then out to the television?
Click to expand...

Absolutely, it works perfectly fine. Just get a Mini-HDMI to HDMI adapter to easily output to your TV.
 
Sevenfold said:
I've had the tablet for about a week now and love it. I needed a tablet so the Shield was never on my radar, but I decided a month ago that I wanted a tablet and after a lot of research I spent way less than I thought I would and am stoked with the result. gaming was genuinly second with films and net first but I've racked up over 15 hours playtime on various games (Half Life 2, 3 hours in and with a controller!) I haven't tried streaming over mobile yet but over home wifi network Wreckfest from the bedroom was awesome) I often work in fields with pretty solid LTE signals so I'm going to give it a shot with a more laid back title. As a gaming device it really has the chops. I'm really impressed by the tablet side of it (Lollipop initial reservations notwithstanding) the screen is great and pixel density is excellent (to these ruined eyes anyway) and performance after 5.0.1 is very good (room for more though) battery life is great compared to my Sammy S4 (bit of Chrome? ok that's half your battery) and the icing on the cake is full tablet control with the controller and headphone jack in the pad itself (big deal for PC gamers who aren't used to it :D) which is great for people who sleep in trucks from time to time!
Click to expand...

I should sell my Nexus 7 and get the Shield Tablet instead right? hmm
 
Corgi said:
Shit.


kindle. 3ds. vita. ipad mini. iphone 6+.


So many handhelds already.... but i kinda want this too! D:


how are the emulators? PSP was pretty good but couldn't handle a few games well.

I just need to be able to play mario rpg at full speed.
Click to expand...

holy shit, you and i are brothers. I'm thinking of the shield too just because of versatility (PC+PS4+Emus)
 
If I reserved one for in store pickup yesterday when it was $140 but didn't pay for anything, is it going to be $160 when I go to pick it up today? I've never reserved anything for pickup at Gamestop before.
 
Plugging a Shield Portable into a big TV and using a Shield Controller with it has been the best gaming experience this year for me - however, it required some set up that's easy to overlook.

1) If the Shield is wirelessly streaming, and let's admit that most big living room TVs are not within suitable ethernet distance of a router, then it's paramount that you connect it to a 5Ghz connection on a decent router. It kept connecting to the 2.4Ghz band of my AirPort Extreme, and it still streamed but suffered some fuzziness and drops every so often. I eventually was motivated to split the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands entirely and force my Shield to connect to the 5Ghz band. If you have a Shield, make damn well sure you are connected to the 5Ghz channel on your router for streaming. It makes the experience much better.

2) Nvidia used to recommend pairing a shitty Nyko android controller with the Shield. That controller is garbage - if you don't get the Shield Controller, you are cheating yourself. The only way the Shield Controller could be improved would be to enable cold-booting the Shield with the controller (though it does wake it from Sleep, at least) and to make the Dpad better.

3) The Shield tends to overscan when connected to any TV by default - you'll have to press the 'View' button on your TV's remote to make sure you are receiving a properly displayed picture.

4) MX Player is the preferred player for playing video files that happen to be in the .avi and .mkv format. It also has good subtitles support, if you're into that. However, it's important to download the custom H/W+ Codec from the settings menu and enabling it or your video will eventually stutter during playback.

5) The Shield has really good emulator support across the board. It's almost a waste not to utilize this functionality.

6) The Shield controller's small trackpad and voice support makes for a fairly decent toolset to use the system as a television web browser, if you're in a situation where you want to browse kitty pictures or something in a social setting.
 
poopninjamvc3mk said:
android games and emulators. das it mane
Click to expand...

Are you sure? Because this thread on NVIDIA's forums seems to indicate otherwise. If I can stream my games, even away from my PC, then this becomes a must-buy.

Can it also handle streaming emulators such as PCSX2 without crazy amounts of controller troubles that are being run locally on my PC?

EDIT:
jack.... said:
Just FYI to anyone thinking of buying one of these for streaming PC games: If you've already got an android device and a controller, Limelight does Nvidia GameStream streaming just as well. I'm using it with an Amazon Fire TV Stick to stream PC games to my TV and it's pretty amazing. If you've got a decent router, 1080p at 60fps is definitely doable.
Click to expand...

By controller, do you mean NVIDIA controller? Because I'd love to do this with a DS4.
 
OK, so I got my Shield Portable to stream properly inside of my own apartment, but I wasn't able to get the streaming working from my friends house.

Is there some additional setting or something for streaming properly when I'm not connected to the same router as my PC?

EDIT: Looking online it may have been an issue with my friends router firewall perhaps. They have the Apple Time Capsule (or whatever it's called), has anyone used one of those and know if you need to open any ports or allow the Shield to work manually from the router settings?
 
EMT0 said:
Are you sure? Because this thread on NVIDIA's forums seems to indicate otherwise. If I can stream my games, even away from my PC, then this becomes a must-buy.

Can it also handle streaming emulators such as PCSX2 without crazy amounts of controller troubles that are being run locally on my PC?

EDIT:


By controller, do you mean NVIDIA controller? Because I'd love to do this with a DS4.
Click to expand...

Any bluetooth controller that works with whatever Android device you're using should work with Limelight. I'm using the Amazon Fire Controller with my Fire TV Stick but I believe a Dualshock 4 should work out of the box too.
 
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