Category: 4K

Nvidia has started pushing out the Shield Experience 5.0 update to the Nvidia Shield TV and it is massive.  While the headline will be that the streaming TV platform as been upgraded to Android Nougat, there are a huge number of new features and improvements in the update.  The first big enhancement is Amazon video integration.  Now if you have a Amazon video account (via Amazon Prime) you can stream that content from the Shield thanks to the built-in app.  The streaming from Amazon is also in 4K HDR.

The new Games app that comes with this update allows you to find compatible games for your Shield.  It gives you listings of games that are available and allows you to download them. Once they are installed, they show up as a single row within the Games apps so you can easily find them.

With the Chromecast Ultra starting to ship out, Google is starting to ramp up support for Ultra HD (4K) videos in the Google Play Movies & TV app.  A check of the store this morning shows that several movies are now available in UHD as well as the already offered HD and SD versions.  The number of movies will only increase as Google licenses out the UHD versions from the production studios and makes them available to end users.

But, if you have the Chromecast Ultra and a 4K television, be prepared to pay for these UHD versions.  In my research this morning, nearly every movie in UHD was twice the price of the HD version.  For example, one of my all time favorite movies, The Fifth Element, is $12.99 in HD but it is $24.99 in UHD.  Also, if you already own the HD version of the movie, there is no option for now to upgrade to UHD – at least for now.