- The Nvidia Shield TV series has received its 25th update.
- This means the original Shield TV has been supported for five years.
- The update mainly brings improvements to the 2019 models.
Microsoft and Samsung have both recently confirmed three years of Android version updates for their devices. This isn’t a big deal for Nvidia though, as it’s just issued its 25th update to the five-year-old Nvidia Shield TV.
The graphics colossus announced the update yesterday (August 26), landing on the 2015 model as well as the 2017 and 2019 refreshes. I can indeed confirm receiving the update on my personal 2019 Nvidia Shield TV ‘tube’ model.
The update is largely focused on the 2019 models though, as they get improved 4K AI upscaling. More specifically, Nvidia says it can now deliver 4K upscaling to content ranging from 360p to 1440p. Furthermore, you can now get 4K AI upscaling for live sports on your TV as well as HD video on YouTube. The graphics firm will also push out an update to the Nvidia Games app next month that enables 4K/60fps upscaling for games via GeForce Now.
What else does the Shield TV update bring?
Nvidia’s 2019 remote is also getting a couple of added features, starting with double-press and long-press menu button shortcuts. Fortunately this will work on all Shield TV devices as well as the Shield TV app. You can also expect IR control to change the input source on TVs and soundbars.
Streaming media from your PC? Then you might be happy to know that native SMBv3 support is here across all Shield TV devices. Finally, 2015 and 2017 Shield models also get the ability to match the frame-rate of displayed content. Nvidia previously noted that the latter feature might be handy for users who are sensitive to judder due to the display frame-rate and the content’s frame-rate being mismatched.
We can also confirm that the update brings the June 2020 security patch, which isn’t exactly the latest update. But given the firm’s reputation for years-long support, we’ve no doubt that even more patches are on the way.
Either way, we’re happy to see Nvidia continue its impressively long run of providing firmware updates to the Shield TV series. It obviously helps if you have a small portfolio of TV boxes rather than a huge catalog of phones and tablets like other OEMs, but it’s still a major achievement in our books.