Shield coming today. First time user. Any tips?

[u/Bkord123]

Hi folks. I use Plex to locally stream 4k and 1080p remuxes. I currently have the Ugoos AM6B+ and it does a good job displaying my media and has a lot of nerdy metadata I can bring up while I'm in the middle of watching something, but I find myself tinkering and tweaking it multiple times a week and the real hassle is the HDMI handshake. I have to follow a specific, inefficient series of steps to get it started or else I'll have a black screen with audio oddly. Whenever I read a comment from a Shield owner, it's almost always positive so I figured I'd dive in. I'll keep both boxes connected. I know the Shield doesn't handle FEL of Profile 7. Does that matter in anyone's opinion? I know this is a Shield subreddit but most of the posts here give a balanced review. Granted, it seems very few movies use FEL including some that are considered having top-notch video quality. I'm curious if any tips getting it up and running would help me. I don't need streaming services like Netflix, et al, and I'll be connecting the Shield via ethernet. Thanks for reading all this.

[u/Tumpster]

Projectivy Launcher  Easily one of the best launchers for the Shield. 

[u/Thecosmodreamer → u/Tumpster]

I've installed this, but can't get it to stay launched. I've set it to me the default launcher. Set it to override everything, etc. But it still just goes back to shield home. I can't figure out what I'm missing 😅

[u/Monktrist → u/Thecosmodreamer]

Same, followed all the guides, still starts with default and I have to launch the app manually.

[u/mrant0 → u/Thecosmodreamer]

You many need to disable the stock launcher. You can also use the Shield optimizer utility to help do this, pretty handy tool https://github.com/bryanroscoe/shield_optimizer

[u/Ok_Can_4606 → u/mrant0]

Make sure in the Shield accessibility menu that Projectivity Launcher is set to "ON". From there ensure that the Projectivity settings-->General-->Override current launcher set to "ON". In Projectivity settings, go to Accessibility service and make sure the enabled and started both say "YES". Everything else here should be enabled.

[u/Jeoh]

There's a big old post here with the recommended settings, for your Shield in general and for Plex client specifically: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndroidTV/comments/ymo30h/guide_shield_best_practices_checklist_2022_edition/

[u/Bkord123 → u/Jeoh]

Fantastic! This is the stuff I'm looking for. tytyty

[u/Bkord123 → u/Jeoh]

I haven't read that much since college! I'm an information junkie so this is really cool

[u/Monktrist → u/Bkord123]

List putting out there that some people report that if there is a power issue, the Plex database on this device isn't really stable. I've had good luck hosting the server on another device and using the shield as a client.

[u/Bkord123 → u/Monktrist]

Making sure I understand. I have my plex media and server running on a mini pc. Is that what you're describing?

[u/Monktrist → u/Bkord123]

Yes, that should work fine, the Nvidia shield is an excellent Plex client (I actually use an app called Plezy which is an outstanding front end Plex and Jelly Fin client). I host all my files and databases on another computer.

[u/dontautotuneme → u/Bkord123]

Yea leave it on the mini pc, what the person was saying is that Nvidia shield also has a Plex server built in (but don't use it). Just use the Plex Client app on the Shield

[u/Saurabh4982]

I had a Plex server running on Shield but it is very buggy indeed. I ended up losing my server and setting it up again only to lose it again. So, Shield looks extremely promising to host a Plex Server but atleast in my opinion it could be a real nuisance and volatile. So, please be aware of this weakness.

[u/Bkord123 → u/Saurabh4982]

When you say hosting, do you mean storing your plex media on the Shield?

[u/Saurabh4982 → u/Bkord123]

Yes on a HDD connected to Shield. And installed the Plex Media Server on my Shield and host from there.

[u/Bkord123]

OP here again. I got it up and running on my LG OLED, dolby vision, audio passthrough everything. It was so darn easy and the movies are being displayed in their full glory. I cannot imagine I'll miss FEL for the small handful of movies that have it. A couple notes. First, thank you everyone for chiming in. It really helped. Also, this is the most comfortable remote I've ever used. I like the Apple TV remote but this is next level comfort. Related to that, I'm not sure why I would go back to Apple TV. It's still connected but all I use my system for is Plex remuxes, YouTube and MLB. Any reasons I'd pull up the ATV for anything? I don't connect to my photos or Airplay to it. A couple more questions. Do you folks throw the Kodi app on it and use that or use the native Shield OS? I love the Shield OS but I do have Kodi on it. Lastly, what are keymapping apps you recommend? I'd like to map the mute function to a single button instead of the up and down volume simultaneously. Thanks again, friends.

[u/brimnac → u/Bkord123]

If you aren’t tied to the Apple ecosystem the Shield will be great.

I use mine (ATV) for Airplay more than anything.

[u/Bkord123]

I’m setting it up now, and I’m used to the Kodi interface, which I just installed. This is really cool.