We’ve been watching Android TV gain momentum in Australia for a while now – TV manufacturers, broadcasters and telcos are embracing the platform with dedicated hardware releases, but one of the earliest and best-regarded solutions has escaped us all along, until now. Nvidia sent word this afternoon that it’s finally – finally – going to release its Shield TV set top box in Australia in July.
Nvidia’s going after the 4K entertainment market, pushing the Shield TV not just at streaming media but also (unsurprisingly, given their heritage), at gamers. The device lets you bring your PC gaming to the big screen with support for Steam’s Big Picture mode and like all Android TV devices ships with game controller support.
Ali Kani, general manager of Shield at Nvidia, had this to say about the product:
SHIELD TV combines upgraded performance, 4K HDR entertainment and GeForce GTX gaming
to deliver an incredible streaming media device.
The device has been on the market overseas for some time. To say we’re been waiting for this for a while is an understatement. It seems Ali got our emails, too:
We received countless inquiries from the Australian market dating back to when
SHIELD first launched, and we can’t wait to meet the demands of our most passionate fans.
(thats us – well, some of those emails were from us…)
Nvidia also has a pretty good track record in keeping the Shield software up to date with the latest Android TV releases, and of course you get access to the Google Play store’s curated library of Android TV software and games, besides Nvidia’s own offering. You’ll also get the Google Assistant.
Shield TV comes in at the higher end of the Android TV set top box market, but comes with either a remote ($249) or a remote and a game controller bundled with it (no price supplied yet, but it’ll cost a little more). You’ll also be able to buy additional controllers or a stand to keep the unit upright if that’s your thing.
You’ll be able to buy Shield TV direct from the Shield website (which doesn’t seem to have opened up for Australia just yet), or from EB Games and a large number of Australian PC retailers like PC Case Gear, Umart, Mwave, Centrecom, Scorptec, PLE Computers, JW Computers, Austin Computers, and Computer Alliance.
