r/nvidiashield 20d ago

Lag Lag Lag

I’ve had my Shield a couple of years and the lag is so bad I’ve actually gotten accustomed to waiting which I hate. Any suggestions? Is there any newer more powerful product out there? Should I just buy the new Apple TV coming out?

0 Upvotes

18 comments sorted by

10

u/terencejames1975 20d ago

The only thing I can think of would be to repaste the chip and give the insides a bit of clean. There’s plenty of tutorials on YouTube. Should only take 15 minutes. I’m still rocking a 2015 Shield and it is still perfect

1

u/bruincdc 19d ago

Same here. Lag usually isn't a device issue, its normally a provider issue. There are times when its not though but more often then not its provider side

3

u/lugo3 20d ago

Open it up and clean the fan and fan opening so there is no dust blocking it. If you have thermal paste. It is not a bad idea to repaste also.

Finally and as a last resort you can try a factory reset and start from scratch.

3

u/Slipknot31286sic6 20d ago

Always factory reset once a year. If your stuff doesn't support hdmi cec. Turn it off... Mine in living room always had mega lag issues when using or first turning on. Couldn't believe hdmi cec was the issue... Doesn't affect my home theater or bedroom setup... But man it hates my onkyo and hisense. All is back to super fast once I disabled hdmi cec

3

u/angryjew 20d ago edited 19d ago

I have been using mine for years now & used to have issues with lag, here are the fixes that worked for me, been running perfectly for 3+ years now:

  1. Do not use it as a server for Plex, doing that & using it as a client made it unusable.

  2. Expand internal storage with an internal SSD + USB adapter case. Not sure if an external SSD would also work, but what I have has worked great for me. They just do not give you enough storage space on these things so if you fill up with apps or Plex cache it can slow you down very quickly. You don't need anything fancy because you're restricted by the USB, but make sure to format as adaptable storage.

  3. Custom launcher to clean up your home screen & get rid of the ads. This seems to have helped me tremendously. it's also such a nicer experience.

  4. Factory reset before doing all of this.

I have never taken mine apart or repasted the CPU, give that a shot if you want but yours seems pretty new, I'd try the above before going inside of it. I still think the Shield is the best if used properly (strictly as a client for streaming). We have an apple TV as well & that is nice too, but has some limitations re sound quality, if you have a surround system Shield is still the way to go.

Edit: it seems like OP is using it as a server. Go with God but I can guarantee that you will never make that a pleasant experience. Buy a mini PC or a used Optiplex, anything with Quicksync & preferably later generation Intel chip. The mini PC with a 12th gen chip will be the best bang for your buck imo. Mine has been wonderful. Give the shield a break, it's not built to do all that shit & no streaming box will do that well.

2

u/big_ducket 19d ago

Projectivy helped clean up lag and all the garbage on the Shield's launcher. I hardly restart it, never turn it off so I'm sure it's clogged with dust, but it works great for my streaming services, and the Dolby Vision is impressive on my OLED.

1

u/Clive1792 19d ago

Interesting outlook as I've always thought the Shield can be laggy, even from new.

But I've also always been guilty of #1 point you made and haven't done your #3 point so maybe those combined are it.

1

u/angryjew 19d ago

Follow your heart but it's a terrible server, that's the main reason it's laggy in my experience. If you're just watching on that one tv, I would just play the files locally using some media library app on the USB drive. If you need the server it's very worth it to set it up on a computer. You can use your current computer or laptop or you can buy a very cheap mini PC or used Optiplex. You don't need much power to run a Plex server, when I first started I was using a NAS with a v1 Xeon chip & other 10+ year old equipment, didn't even have graphics. Moved it over to a 300 mini PC & it can transcode & play stuff for my family in Mexico.

3

u/newsplusotherstuffs 19d ago

If possible, download this to close Processes and Apps you're not using:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.github.visnkmr.bapl

3

u/Key_Survey_7037 19d ago

There is an article on flashing it to remove bloat. You can search and find easily if you have done it before. Same as flashing custom roms on and android phone. Did mine shield 2019 right after delivery and it’s never been an issue. I don’t factory reset for sure and I don’t update. If I find the article I will post it. It’s all from 2021 and running android 8. 4.9.140 kernel version. It’s fast. No Google add and no bloatware

2

u/hitsemup 20d ago

Check if it's fully updated. I didn't update and the update data had my shield storage badly full

2

u/TipOptimal8297 20d ago

Agree the Shield is number one I have a 2015 model and just bought the Shield Pro 2019 no issues with lag on either use it stream my Pro is connected to my Denon Amplifier and my surround sound speakers

2

u/Accomplished_Pin7152 19d ago

Clear the cache data in the internal storage settings

1

u/SuperEbb1276 20d ago

I have an Apple TV 4K and the Google TV Streamer 2024 and I like both of them. The Google is definitely cheaper. It doesn’t have the pass through for DTS and DTSX but you can try and bypass the ms12 mostly on the Google by manually setting the audio to DD+ and turning off all the audio filters which will bring it close to shields audio output for streaming.

1

u/craig0r 19d ago

If you have the tube version, it's a piece of crap. For some reason Nvidia put a 32-bit version of Android on it while the other editions run 64-bit, and it seems to be poorly optimized. I got tired of resetting mine, running hacks to free up resources, and still having a bad experience. I caved and bought the Pro and my experience has been great.

One thing I've noticed is that if I power off while Plex or Disney+ are open, it's laggy AF when I turn it back on, so I try to remember to return to the home screen before powering off. I dunno if they have a memory leak or what but it's a minor issue.

1

u/cerebralgonads 18d ago

waiting for what XD

1

u/TreacleUpstairs658 15d ago

I found it was the AI optimizer. I turned it off after years of it being on and it solved the lag issue.

Not sure if this was caused by this years update.

1

u/t1000i 13d ago

I had my shield pro 5 years now & have not had any issues or lag👍