NVIDIA Shield TV vs. Shield Pro 2017: Which Variant of the Media Streamer Should Consumers Purchase?

By Georgia Gana, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, February 07, 2017

When NVIDIA introduced the all-new Shield TV at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last January and called it the "world's most advanced streamer," there was no question that this was a must-have item for just about anyone who consumes media. However, the belated revelation that the tech company was also offering a Pro variant made it a bit more difficult for consumers to decide which version would suit their needs.

The Shield TV is currently available to purchase for $199.99 while the Shield Pro is more expensive at $299.99. Given the price difference, consumers have to decide whether they are willing to pay $100 more or if the standard version of the media streamer is already suitable for their particular lifestyle. To help with the decision process, this article breaks down the different components of the Shield TV and the Shield Pro.

In terms of features, the Shield TV and Shield Pro actually offer the same functionalities including 4K high dynamic range (HDR) video streaming with support for Amazon Video, Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies, HBO, PlayStation Vue and Kodi, among others. Likewise, users can stream music via Pandora or Spotify.

The media streamer can also be used to play Android games. Through GeForce Now and GameStream, games like "Watch Dogs 2," "Assassin's Creed Syndicate" and "For Honor" can be streamed as well.

Lastly, both the Shield TV and the Shield Pro can be expanded to feature artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

Ultimately, the deciding factors would have to be based on storage options and the devices' respective physical sizes.

The Shield TV comes with 16 GB of built-in storage while the Shield Pro has more to offer with 500 GB. So, for consumers who would mostly use the device to stream media, the standard version would be more than enough.

However, for those who play a lot of video games and want to store a lot of video and music files on the device will benefit from the larger internal storage space of the Shield Pro. Furthermore, this variant also has a microSD card slot and a micro-USB port.

Another aspect to consider is one's entertainment setup. For consumers who have cozier living arrangements or those who already have a lot of devices attached to their televisions, the Shield TV is more compact at 98 x 159 x 25.93 mm and lighter at 3.8 pounds. Meanwhile, the Shield Pro is bigger at 130 x 210 x 210 mm and weighs 4 pounds.

The media streamers also come with different remotes. The Shield Pro retains the older remote with a headphone jack and rechargeable batteries while the Shield TV has a newer version without the jack and ships with non-rechargeable batteries.

With all these features analyzed, hopefully, consumers will have an easier time deciding which variant of NVIDIA's media streamers to purchase.