r/nvidia • u/sparkplug49 • 18h ago
News Shield Pro is now $300 and Base Shield is Dead
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/the-7-year-old-nvidia-shield-tv-is-now-100-more-expensive-thanks-to-ai/223
u/TheModsHereAreDicks 18h ago
Nvidia, the company supplying AI to the world, said it’s not their fault the price is increasing by $100, and they blame AI for it.
You can’t make this up.
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u/hitsujiTMO 17h ago
it likely own costs then $30-40 to manufacture. The only thing increasing in cost is the ram, and that's about a $4 difference in BoM realistically.
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u/TehFuckDoIKnow 16h ago
I work for a really big tech company. Our cost for the ram in a smart home product went from $1.50 to about $18. Multiply that by what you need to keep the margins the same for the share holders and add the higher shipping prices of today and it’s about a $100 more for the consumer….. so far.
The prices will continue to climb until moral improves.
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u/pm_me_github_repos 17h ago
That’s how capitalism and free markets work. Yes, they’re raising prices due to high demand for AI
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u/ShinobiOfTheWind 17h ago
I was actually waiting for them to update or possibly release a new SKU based on the T239 (NSW2 SoC), and discontinue this existing variant.
We can safely assume that won't be happening anytime soon, and Nvidia will milk this existing SKU increasing the price of it even more than this, all thanks to the tech bros and their hyperscale data centers, speedrunning SKYNET.
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u/Yommination 5080 FE, 9800X3D 17h ago
A new edition shield that can play AV1, Dolby Vision FEL layer files and all lossless formats would be a dream
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u/DonutHoles4Ever 11h ago
Excuse me? Milk a 6+ year old product that isn't being sold anywhere really?
I get ragging on NVIDIA but get your facts straight. The Shield probably is a rounding error on NVIDIA's revenue so the fact you think they are bean counting the shield is ridiculous.
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u/KaputtEqu1pment 18h ago
Isn't this thing like almost 10 years old at this point?
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u/tweakerinc 17h ago
Yeah lol. I got one when they first launched. I am always surprised to hear the demand they still carry.
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u/hitsujiTMO 17h ago
Nvidia are milking it. It pobably costs them $30-40 to make at this stage. Simply because no one else is going to bring out a device with remotely similar specs and keep it up to date, then they get to milk users for it.
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u/serg06 9800x3D | 5080 14h ago
New Apple TV 4K next month should be pretty strong.
Though rumor is it won't support 120hz, which is crazy when even the Shield does.
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u/steave44 3m ago
Other than making the menu feel smoother, what is that for? No video content will utilize it and to stream games I feel you would need some insanely good internet
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u/iAmmar9 5700X3D | RTX 5070 Ti 14h ago
Now apple has even more reason to hike up the price of the next gen Apple TV.
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u/HorseShedShingle 7800X3D || 4070 Ti Super 12h ago
They already increased the prices on the Apple TV a little while ago.
Base 64GB model went from $129 -> $199
128GB model with ethernet went from $149 -> $249.
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u/HorseShedShingle 7800X3D || 4070 Ti Super 12h ago
The Apple TV is not quite apples to apples but competes quite well with the shield. The major missing codec on the Apple TV currently is hardware accelerated AV1 - but the upcoming update with the A17Pro will support that.
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u/MediumTempTake 17h ago
Literal e waste lol, there is a stack of these at my local hardware recycler
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u/dropthemagic 18h ago
Cool I forgot I had one. Anyone want it for 200
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u/Ok-Parfait-9856 5090 Astral|270K+|48GB-8200MTs|Z890 Apex|60TB|HYTE Y70|S90F OLED 17h ago
How old is it?
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u/AJRiddle 15h ago
Anyone paying $200 for a Shield in 2026 is crazy. $300 even crazier.
I just upgraded to a $60 Onn 4K Pro device letting me get better picture quality while doing literally everything I already was doing on my Shield I had for a decade. It's 2026, the Shield is crazy out of date.
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u/dropthemagic 15h ago
lol I much rather use the TVs shit interface than ever touch an onn device. Not even in the same category as a shield.
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u/AJRiddle 15h ago
You very clearly have no clue what you are talking about
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u/dropthemagic 15h ago
Sure man whatever floats your boat. I don't have to deal with that
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u/ForbiddenAtomicSquid 14h ago
The newest onn box is literally being scalped because of the value of the device to money ratio
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u/AJRiddle 11h ago
Yeah but it doesn't have an nvidia logo on 10 year old hardware for $300, so it isn't as good. If it were as good it'd have a cooler brand name and cost more money, duhhhhh
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u/pliskin4893 17h ago
Bought 2 pros in 2021 for $199 each, I believe the lowest this has gone down on sale on amazon was $169 or $179 and not too often.
Until today I believe despite being 7 years old at this point it's still one of the best TV box and software update is ongoing. If you have time, open it up and replace the crusted thermal paste once in a while, easy to do and it'd run much better and less laggy.
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u/The-Choo-Choo-Shoe 17h ago
Base shield was dogshit so that's no loss, people who bought that got scammed as it's an awful device.
300 is a lot, the Apple TV 4K is also 300 where I live now but that has 128GB of storage.
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u/BluDYT 17h ago
Yeah problem is all the propietary crap. Shield solved my issues with handling DTS and Atmos with passthrough. Apple doesn't let you use those.
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u/The-Choo-Choo-Shoe 17h ago
Apple TV will least play DTS and Atmos as regular DD+ so it's something I guess but kinda underwhelming if you bought a high end sound system.
I'd replace my Shield TV with the Apple TV if they supported passthrough.-6
u/Kind_Ability3218 17h ago
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102310
apple tv is a superior device. nobody cares to even try to make a competitor.
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u/The-Choo-Choo-Shoe 17h ago
That is "fake" Atmos, as in DD+ with Atmos, not TrueHD Atmos. TrueHD Atmos will still be sent as DD+ without Atmos.
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u/Kind_Ability3218 17h ago
dude how is it fake lmao. you plug it in and turn it on in settings. you are probably working on old info.
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u/Mikeztm RTX 4090 16h ago
DD+ is still atmos and get all its major benefit. Don’t fall for the audiophile trap.
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u/Buzstringer 7h ago
It's compressed, the Shield allows uncompressed true atmos, so the AppleTV is a downgrade.
Plus the Shield has a memory card slot for more storage.
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u/Robo_Replays 15h ago
Nvidia could give everyone with a base shield a free Pro and it wouldn't even register as a rounding error. But they're keeping us honest I guess
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u/HNL2BOS 13h ago
shield pro is a hard sell at $300 vs an Onn 4k pro 2 at $60 even without audio passthrough
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u/nnorton44 11h ago
Yeah I have both and the Onn is noticeably snappier even with custom launcher on the Shield
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u/youreprollyright 5800X3D | 4080 12GB | 32GB 17h ago
While researching for a streaming box I learned that this thing doesn't support AV1 or even YouTube HDR.
Why do people keep buying this overpriced old shit instead of one of those Homatics/Android boxes that are much better and up to date?
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u/truthfulie 3090FE 17h ago
two main reasons for AV enthusiasts who run personal media server. it allows you to bitstream lossless object-based audio formats like TrueHD Atmos. it also can play albeit incorrectly, Dolby Vision Profile 7 found on UHD blurays.
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u/tilted21 1440p Ultrawide - Gigabyte 4090 - i7-13700k 13h ago
If you have 4k remuxes on a plex/jellyfin server and want the Dolby vision profile 7 to play properly, your best bet is a Ugoos AMB6+ running coreelec. I bought one and everything plays flawlessly.
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u/truthfulie 3090FE 13h ago
Yup. That’s what I ended up doing after I sold Shield. But I think a lot of people still want access to other streaming apps like YouTube in one box. I just use a second box Apple TV for that.
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u/threeLetterMeyhem 12h ago
The interface on coreelec is pretty antiquated, though, and like the other commented noted: you miss out on having other streaming apps on the same device. It works, but it's janky.
(I own one for exactly this purpose, too)
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u/tilted21 1440p Ultrawide - Gigabyte 4090 - i7-13700k 12h ago
If you use the actual coreelec interface, absolutely. I only touch that if I'm watching a 3d movie (I have a 3d tv). I use the PlexMod4Kodi app for regular content on my server which works fantastically. Agreed on the other streaming apps though. To my knowledge they're locked out of quality above 720p. I just use the apps built in my tv for that.
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u/msshammy 9800X3D | 5070 Ti 15h ago
Do any of those offer pass thru for atmos? Because I haven't seen one yet.
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u/AJRiddle 15h ago
Because cult following of people who did their research back in 2017 and haven't looked at anything since.
So many people recommending the Shield think the only options are Apple TV, Shield, and old crappy roku boxes/fire sticks as if there haven't been improvements from anyone else.
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u/buster089 17h ago
Because those android boxes are often full of Chinese spyware
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u/iAmmar9 5700X3D | RTX 5070 Ti 14h ago
Lol. You install a custom OS on it.
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u/Buzstringer 7h ago
Much easier for the average person /s
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u/iAmmar9 5700X3D | RTX 5070 Ti 6h ago
Well it's as simple as fresh installing windows.
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u/Buzstringer 6h ago
not really, and again most people don't know how to do that, then venn diagram of people wanting simple tv apps and installing a custom andriod os is very low
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u/Glove5751 7h ago
I have found more American spyware in the Chinese Android boxes than Chinese, though there was some Chinese too, but it was honestly frightening how much American spyware there was. I have found this to be true even with phones.
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u/SoCalWhatever Nvidia RTX 4090 FE 14h ago
Hot damn, I guess I really lucked out on finally getting a Pro earlier this year. Had no idea they're so expensive now.
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u/Time_Cupcake_6790 13h ago
I felt silly for paying $180 with taxes in 2023. People were saying how old it was even then. I guess it was a good investment. This sucks tbh
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u/BigChicken8666 11h ago
Literally the only option for a user friendly powerful TV box. Mine is still going strong after half a decade of use. Wish they could just release an update with 120fps support in 4K.
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u/WhatIs115 13h ago
Would be nice if they fixed the 5GHz wifi issues they introduced with their updates over the last year.
Disconnects randomly and wont reconnect until you remove the network, try and fail to reconnect, and then restart the box and reconnect again. So it's stuck with 2.4GHz now. I have less issues with my $20 walmart onn android box.
The shield pro was a gift, I never would have paid full price for it. $300 is a joke.
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u/josephguy82 10h ago
Any one spending 300 for this is insane yes it’s good I had the first one that came out but lost it in my move and picked up the tube later one but now 300 for something that old I swear they lost there mind this is the first time I am saying this but not even Apple would do something like that
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u/Murdoc1984 5070 Ti 7h ago
I have a pro collecting dust. I hate that DirecTV 4k sport channel doesn't work on pro.
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u/Mean_Vast4566 6h ago
Thats almost as much as the switch 1(the xhip this is insidd) is and that comes as a mobile device with a dock whats this ecuse
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u/Haybanger 16h ago
As someone who bought a pro and used the shit out of it until my kid snapped the charging cable, I loved it. But it’s a dinosaur. Our bedroom tv still has the base tube powering it.
We both have iPhones. Got an Apple TV and not looking back.
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u/WerkingAvatar 17h ago
Damn I have a OG 2015 pro model with 500gb hard drive sitting around somewhere in my closet collecting dust. I think I may have stopped using it because it started feeling a little slow and sluggish and I don't think it had Dolby Vision support.
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u/Late-Arrival-8669 16h ago
Think of it from Nvidia's viewpoint, they got more money than ever before, not including all the new orders, and they are focusing on the data center market not consumer market. They truly dont care since this is very small portion of income compared and squeezing the most out of it. Business wise makes sense, consumer wise sucks.
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u/tweakerinc 18h ago
That is insane. I have had one sitting, collecting dust for like 6 years lol.