I bit the bullet and switched from WD TV boxes for close family to these. Mostly for Plex - it's kinda expenive just for HEVC streaming, but the whole PC thing was just too much for many of them. It's really cool to have a live streaming server with a netflix-like interface It's also cool to have such a powerful android in HD onscreen. Now you can even have the Plex server installed directly on the Nvidia Shield - skip the computer completely and just NAS multiple hard drives.
Just a warning about having 2 Shield controllers (I didn't know you could get a free one, but looked into buying a very expensive 2nd): They do not work with most native android games or streaming pc games. In fact they're mostly useless as the 2nd shield controller registers as the same device except for a handful of "console mode" games. That's why they're giving them away with the console now.
Buy a bluetooth controller instead or go wired for 2+ player. Any popular new-ish bluetooth gaming controller will work just fine for native 2p games and emulators. I opted for a SteelSeries Stratus XL for 2nd player on the emulators.
Oh and don't buy a an official microphone remote - buy a much cheaper Amazon Fire TV stick remote.
At under $20 you need this accessory while the official one is way too expensive.
I found that I could buy more games that what show up on the inbuilt play store app through a web browser on a pc on the google play store while logged in to my google account - or if you have an android phone just choose to install the apps you already purchased also onto your shield.
Dowloading an APK and installing it may be the only way to get some apps and games onto your device - they show unsuported if they have touch only controls, tho a wireless mouse can play them fine usually.
Many will not show up on the launch screen. You can launch them with this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... adlauncherThe purchase was well worth it - it completely fills the entertainment center needs with as much power as should be necessary, and also renders all 3d intensive android games without flinching.
