Blues76 Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 Hello, I was looking at NVIDIA Shield among others for emulation (to place next to my tv). Of course, Raspberry Pi is one option. Has anyone used the NVIDIA Shield (or NVIDIA Shield Tablet) or similar devices for emulation (or for anything)? Could you provide some feedback. I notice in Amazon for example that the NVIDIA Shield 4K is available refurbished (not new currently) and there is a tablet from NVIDIA Shield (maybe it allows connection to a TV). There is also a portable one (but I wasn't sure if I wanted a portable one) available called US GPD XD RK3288 2G/16G 5''Game Tablet PC Quad Core IPS Android Video Console The reason that I was looking for the NVIDIA Shield 4K was because of the cost. Any experiences, comments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 All of the Nvidia Shield products are well made, and plenty powerful for emulation, in addition to streaming games from your PC or playing media in general. All of it can output to a television via HDMI. I had the all-in-one Nvidia Shield handheld -- it's the size of an original Xbox "Duke" controller but quite a bit heavier. Very quality stuff. Caution: Nvidia seems to be pulling away from this product line, so support will likely dry up. The handheld has been discontinued and could be difficult to find. For what it's worth, I think they're the main hardware partner for the Nintendo Switch! The GPD XD looks and feels like a 3DS, so it's more portable, but it's not as powerful or nicely built as anything from Nvidia. I still have mine, I like it well enough but don't love it. I'm enjoying my New 3DS XL more, personally. More caution: this is a Chinese company so support is not what you might expect from something locally. Software updates are a pain and are shared via file sharing sites. The more I talk about it the less comfortable I am that it has access to my Google account! This is the best place to talk about this kind of thing and you will find lots of opinions: http://boards.dingoonity.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blues76 Posted December 29, 2016 Author Share Posted December 29, 2016 All of the Nvidia Shield products are well made, and plenty powerful for emulation, in addition to streaming games from your PC or playing media in general. All of it can output to a television via HDMI. I had the all-in-one Nvidia Shield handheld -- it's the size of an original Xbox "Duke" controller but quite a bit heavier. Very quality stuff. Caution: Nvidia seems to be pulling away from this product line, so support will likely dry up. The handheld has been discontinued and could be difficult to find. For what it's worth, I think they're the main hardware partner for the Nintendo Switch! The GPD XD looks and feels like a 3DS, so it's more portable, but it's not as powerful or nicely built as anything from Nvidia. I still have mine, I like it well enough but don't love it. I'm enjoying my New 3DS XL more, personally. More caution: this is a Chinese company so support is not what you might expect from something locally. Software updates are a pain and are shared via file sharing sites. The more I talk about it the less comfortable I am that it has access to my Google account! This is the best place to talk about this kind of thing and you will find lots of opinions: http://boards.dingoonity.org Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 The Pi is probably the best supported, but Nvidia is way more powerful, and can run 32X and N64 at full speed. Pi struggles with those two. GPD XD is in the middle. Your computer can output to the TV, too, and is probably plenty strong for emulators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blues76 Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Caution: Nvidia seems to be pulling away from this product line, so support will likely dry up. The handheld has been discontinued and could be difficult to find. For what it's worth, I think they're the main hardware partner for the Nintendo Switch! I have been reading that NVIDIA is actually planning a second (not tablet) version of the 4K Streaming one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 I have been reading that NVIDIA is actually planning a second (not tablet) version of the 4K Streaming one. This stuff? http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/12/19/this-is-very-probably-nvidias-2017-refresh-of-the-shield-android-tv-which-may-come-in-two-sizes/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blues76 Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Yes that one. I may have seen another one too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 I can speak for a few things based on one shield. I have their tablet, the original one (post recall with stylus) they recently re-issued without stylus for $100 less. That system is a tablet beast with that Tegra chip in there. It's more close in power to their TV console their their barebones controller with the flip up screen they have out there too. The Tablet easily with no effort syncs to a TV perfectly with a cheap cable that should cost you no worse than $10 if I recall when I got it. The tablet on the side has a mini-HDMI port, so just get a mini to standard HDMI cable and pop that into your TV, that's it. It will then see it has an active screen to jump to and it does without any painful hoops. Tegra in there with proper coding just for it has some really unique games that push closer to PS3 in quality which is pretty impressive as it's not weak. That power can be tapped easily by any emulator that'll gobble up any resource it can get to run a game and well. I've also got one of those little bluetooth steel series mobile controllers (they don't make them anymore) too. Currently I only have just the Neo-Geo emulator on there with the ROM sets to the cartridges I own for my cabinet installed. It runs without fault, any setting flipped on, maximum quality with no drops or issues. I've also run SNES9XEX+ on there, and even the most demanding stuff like the FX1/2, SDD1, SA1 chipped games run with full frame and again no issues with filters applied or not. There's also the 8bit NES which I've had tossed on there at a point too, and given less powerful not really worth mentioning but it was fine as well. I've not thrown any N64 at it, but I researched it, and as well as the emulator works, it runs it like a champ as well. I've also read the same of Reicast which is a Dreamcast emulator. Shield is about as ideal as you can get with an Android device for running emulator stuff, and given the tablet can be ramped into the TV and costs less than the console, it's the most ideal one to own. Carry it around, or one simple cable and you can run it off the TV like it was the console. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 ^^ agreed And now I want a Shield tablet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towmater Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 I bought the handheld when it first came out, Nvidia almost immediately abandoned it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) Hey I want to add something to my last post. On another site it came up in discussion when people were going on about Android emulators and limits of emulation in the format. It came down to the hardware argument which I made here. Someone said they tried to run of all things GAMECUBE (ie Dolphin Emulator for Android) on a little bit older Samsung device and got like 15-20fps. I pondered without doing my proper google fu first how well shield would run. Same time as I got curious not waiting the site admin did a link, it was one of a few videos I did find on youtube. The Shield Tablet can run Gamecube games (not sure if any specific settings were needed or not) at full 60fps. I saw movies of Mario Sunshine and Mario kart Double Dash being run successfully and correctly and had started up a clip of Zelda Wind Waker as well. So it's safe to say that the Shield can handle Gamecube stuff, perhaps even the Wii at some decent level perhaps since it's like what 50% more powerful than the cube? Raspberry Pi3 run Gamecube(Dolphin at 60 fps?) If it can't you kind of have an answer on what device might be worth your time in the end if you want to do it right. The modern Shield Tablet costs just $200 (down from $300 when I got it with the stylus.) Edited January 5, 2017 by Tanooki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSchoolRetroGamer Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) NVIDIA Unveils Shield TV and Shield TV Pro Game Consoles at CES 2017 – Features Tegra X1 SOC http://wccftech.com/nvidia-shield-tv-geforce-now-ces/ Edited January 5, 2017 by OldSchoolRetroGamer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSchoolRetroGamer Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 NVIDIA Unveils Shield TV and Shield TV Pro Game Consoles at CES 2017 – Features Tegra X1 SOC http://wccftech.com/nvidia-shield-tv-geforce-now-ces/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 NVIDIA Unveils Shield TV and Shield TV Pro Game Consoles at CES 2017 – Features Tegra X1 SOC http://wccftech.com/nvidia-shield-tv-geforce-now-ces/ NVIDIA-Shield-Pro.png $200 for console and controller bodes well for Nintendo Switch pricing. Switch will be last gen, lower resolution, with its own tablet screen. This also bodes well for existing Shield pricing ... if you want to emulate old games, even that is overkill for ancient SNES and Genesis fare. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TornadoTJ Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 I wish I could find a 7800 emulator for my Shields! The other emulators work great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwilove Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 (edited) I bought the Shield Tablet specifically for emulation usage - at first I thought it was great - to run many kinds of emulators that did seem to work fine - especially with an old Microsoft gamepad. But that gamepad support did not run - after about the third? update to the OS. I then made the mistake of going for a wireless Xbox controller - which was suppose to work with it - and found it didn't. Couldn't even get it to work with my laptop - which is should of... Then I thought the Tablet stopped working altogether - not charging? Bought a Lenova Tab4 10 Tablet - and while this is not as powerful - at least I can get my Mame fix of Shanghai working with it. I ended up using it's power cord with my Shield Tablet - and found it was working fine after all. But with no gamepad working - I can run emulation with it. I thought well - maybe if I can reset my OS back to it's first/original version - maybe my gamepad will work with that? But in trying to find information about doing this - was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I finally tracked the info down - but it sounds like a very long convoluted way of having to do it - that for me (a non-techie) is impossible. It would have been great if NVidia provided an easy way of doing this - as a failsafe. But NO - I'm not using my NVidia Shield Tablet for the purpose I intended to use it for. Without gamepad support - it's just too hard without it. Just maybe - if I purchased the approved controller for it - with the tablet - I wouldn't be having all these kind of problems I've been having? Getting Mame to find it's ROMs wasn't that easy - and so it is not problem free to do what you would like with it. Harvey Edited April 22, 2018 by kiwilove Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 I think you have a defective tablet. I've linked up a few different styles of bluetooh controller to mine with no problems at all. The stuff I have was not approved by them such as a steelseries free mobile controller and the 8bitdo nes 30 pro. The only emulator I bother with on there at all though is Neo Geo and rarely, but it works. Usually I've used the pads for other stuff that are made to pick it up like Pinball Arcade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwilove Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 When I had the Microsoft gamepad working with the Shield Tablet - I was running all kinds of emulators - working fine. Even that Super Ghouls n Ghosts enhanced version - I forget what emu... So for 4 or so months it was all dandy. Without a working controller - I just can't use it for the purpose I bought it for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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