nVidia Shield TV Pro (2019 version), still relevant in 2025! A listen to Auro-3D & Auro-Matic Upsampler.

Hey guys, I thought it would be fun to talk about something that's been around quite awhile already but which I still bought in 2025. As per the image above, it's the nVidia Shield TV Pro (US$200, CAD$260). For years, I've been using the Apple TV 4K (2nd Gen, 2021) which is a fine unit with all the bells and UI whistles of the Apple ecosystem. But it is missing something that "serious" movie audio lovers - and even audiophile music lovers - might want; lossless audio bit-streaming for Dolby TrueHD/Atmos and DTS/HDMA/X.

That's right, sadly, after all these years, Apple doesn't care to update the AppleTV to support basic bit-streamed audio. 😢

Note that I don't necessarily blame them as a company, they make no money off local libraries of UHD/BluRay-ripped content. So if I were running the business, I'd also think twice about getting developers to support a feature that at this time in history they will make no streaming subscription revenue from. Streaming services - Apple TV, Apple Music, Netflix, Prime Video - all do not send lossless multichannel audio content, opting typically for lossy Dolby EAC3 with or without Atmos. Not supporting much beyond the basic feature set is nothing new with Apple as part of their KISS closed ecosystem mentality. (The only lossless multichannel I've come across are the few albums on Qobuz.)

Since 2021, without lossless bit-streaming to the receiver, I've been using Infuse PRO on the Apple TV which will decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio to multichannel PCM. Doing this removes the embedded Atmos or DTS:X height effects (can turn on Dolby Surround Upmixer or DTS Neural X to extract some content back). At least lossy EAC3-Atmos is sent directly to the receiver.

Therefore in 2025, the only other mainstream choice is still the Shield TV, a device that seems to be catered more to the home-theater enthusiast with lossless audio - thanks nVidia.

No need to rehash the history of this device, here's a very well done summary just 3 months ago by Lon.TV:

He makes a very good point that the longevity of the Shield TV probably owes a lot to the fact that the Tegra X1+ SoC (X1 was first released in 2015 with the first generation Shield TV) is the same as in the Nintendo Switch gaming machine. This 2019 "X1+" refresh is a quad Cortex-A57 processor running at 2.1GHz with 256-core Maxwell-generation GPU. It's got 3GB LPDDR4 RAM with 16GB storage (can add USB3.0 flash storage as needed). Specs-wise, these numbers aren't impressive when you compare them to modern premium Android phones - the Shield TV is basically an Android 11 device with Google Play store to download software. Given that this is primarily just a media streaming device, the specs are fine.

Longevity would not be great if there isn't at least some background development happening to improve the experience, fix bugs, and making sure that the device remains relevant at least when it comes to the intended uses.

In that regard, it's good to see that the Shield TV (Pro) has continued to receive software upgrades over the last decade! The most recent "SHIELD Experience Upgrade 9.2" was just released in early February 2025, about 2 years since the last update but as you can see with the release notes, they've now added Auro-3D support (my Integra DRX-8.4 can decode this which we'll discuss below), bunch of bug fixes, and I see there are a number of GeForce NOW games added like Fortnite, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, as well as Black Myth: Wukong which would be cool to check out.

For those unaware, GeForce NOW is a gaming service over the cloud with the GPU running virtually and sending streamed audio/video across the network. This means that you need fast broadband network for good playability without too much graphics degradation - stable 50Mbps recommended if you want to attempt 4K/60fps in the top "Ultimate" tier. Given the cost of recent GPUs (as discussed recently, now even worse with RTX 50 series scalping!), I think this is a good way to get into playing some recent games for the casual gamer until prices settle down to fair value. [This reviewer seems really impressed by the highest GeForce NOW Ultimate Tier ($20/month).]

If you haven't seen a picture of the Shield TV Pro (after all these years!), here are some images of the hardware:

Box contents: Device itself, Toblerone-like remote (2-AAA included), pamphlets with little info, and 40W wall-wart power supply.

Sitting flat looking from the front, notice the tapered shape where the left side is taller than the right. This is so we can stand it up as well.

A look at the bottom of the unit. Lowest part that sits on surface has a rubberized non-slip texture.

nVidia Shield TV Pro rear: 2 x USB3.0 ports, HDMI 2.0b, gigabit ethernet, power in. Notice the right side where the power port is, is a bit taller and flatter to stand upright.

Here it is standing if you prefer. No rubberized texture unlike the base of the unit when sitting flat. Careful not to tip! There are some inexpensive stands for added stability.

To round out the feature set, there's WiFi 802.11ac 2x2 MIMO for wireless connectivity (not the newer 802.11ax WiFi 6) as well as Bluetooth 5.0+LE. It is capable of supporting BT controllers like the recent ones for the XBOX One X, Playstation 5, and SCUF for the more serious gamer.

The remote controller buttons are obvious but the battery management design isn't completely intuitive. To access the batteries, push down on the little button at the bottom, and slide the lower shell down; might be a little stiff and you might need to push on the bottom end of the controller to put a little counterforce into it. I found that on my unit, I needed to push that button down and pull the shell a little so the button stays depressed in order for the controller to come alive.

It looks like if I close that shell and have the button fully pop out, this disconnects the battery for transport or if you're not going to be using this for awhile and don't want to waste battery. Strange, I've never seen this kind of design before and I don't see instructions anywhere in those brief pamphlets. 

Always a good sign when the company includes branded Duracell batteries.

And here are your two premier mainstream A/V streaming devices side-by-side for comparison with a look at the rear I/O ports:

Current Apple TV 4K is the Gen 3 (2022, ~US$190) which supports HDR10+ and HLG that the Shield TV Pro does not.

You have to hand it to Apple for the very nice metal rechargeable Apple TV remote with excellent battery life per charge compared to the plastic nVidia one. 

They both have voice-activated functions and seem to perform about equivalently.

Even though plastic, the nVidia controller feels dense with a reassuring weight, and the triangular "Toblerone" form with rolled edges is comfortable in the hand. Furthermore, it has back lighting which to me significantly improves usability when watching TV in a darkened room.

If you prefer not to use the nVidia controller, you could also download the Shield TV Remote App on Android or iOS but this seems to be older software that might not work on latest Android OS, try Remote for Android TV instead which worked well on my Google Pixel 8 Pro smartphone.

One complaint I've heard is the oversized NETFLIX button on the controller. A tip I've seen is to install Button Mapper app and make the NETFLIX button a double-tap to reduce accidental launches.

So how is it in use?

For my main use case, the most important thing is really to get Kodi movie player installed (latest version v.21.2 Omega), make sure I'm at 4K/60Hz video, and get audio passthrough working.

This is easily done because Kodi is one of the apps you can choose to install when you run the initial set-up. And you can just add it to the home top row favorite panel:

Go into the Settings (gear icon top right) and make sure the screen resolution and framerate correct for the TV set (4K/59.940Hz for me, turn on Dolby Vision):

The AI-Enhanced upscaling function works well and I haven't been concerned about distracting artifacts so leaving it at default "Medium" level seems totally fine. They've included a demo mode to show off the effect. I wish I could have captured a digital screenshot. A somewhat zoomed in photograph shows the difference:

Not hard to see the extra details in the Disney lettering, sharper castle, better contrast and detail in the water and stars without looking overly sharpened at normal viewing distance. There are the 3 Low/Medium/High levels for a little fine-tuning.

Note that this upscaling is not as good as off-line AI upscaling software like Topaz Video AI. For real-time enhancement, this will help get your 720P and 1080P images looking more like native 4K at least.

The AI upscaling works for all content <4K, so it's handy when watching YouTube videos for example and I see there's a setting to upscale GeForce NOW game streams.

Now let's start up Kodi and make sure in Settings/System, under the Audio menu, we go Advanced, and activate audio passthrough of all the relevant codecs my receiver supports:

And with that, when I watch a movie with lossless multichannel audio like Dolby TrueHD-Atmos, it's passed on to the receiver. Plus Dolby Vision will be active if the movie has that:

A scene from Dune. It's been awhile since I played lossless TrueHD-Atmos through the streaming box... (Not a problem through my fanless MiniPC using Kodi, but Windows does not support Dolby Vision easily unfortunately - see this for possible solution depending on TV.)

Despite the age, the nVidia Shield TV Pro remains responsive in daily use. Just as how technology like our smartphones, tablets, desktop and laptop computers probably are not as frequently updated these days unlike a decade ago unless one is an avid gamer who needs the latest-and-greatest GPU, so too streaming boxes like these I think work well enough that they have become just appliances. This is I think a natural evolution of technology over time as they mature, work their way into daily life with basic function sets crystallized.

I'll give GeForce NOW a try later. I see that the free tier is "sold out" currently. Anyhow, I've signed up and if "capacity" opens up, I'll have a look on the device.

Otherwise, yeah, the usual streaming apps like YouTube, Prime Video, Netflix run just fine, like other AV streamers.

Conclusion

Bottom line, I honestly don't remember the last time I bought a new item like the nVidia Shield TV Pro that was released 6 years ago in the technology space and remains useful with a feature I want despite competition like the Apple TV with newer models. Sure, there are few things that would be nice to have if they update the Shield TV hardware - HLG, HDR10+, faster and more RAM for local games, more built-in storage, maybe even 8K not that there's any content currently even though screens readily available.

As expressed years ago, I'm of the opinion that 4K video is equivalent to "CD-resolution" - pure, perfect sound forever - of video. There's likely little need for pixel resolution beyond it at home.

nVidia/Google working with Apple to get Apple Music with Spatial Audio/Atmos support on Android TV boxes like the Shield would be nice but I don't think Apple will play nice with 3rd party support to get all features available for paying customers. My Apple Music subscription might literally be the only reason I still have the Apple TV in the home theater room now. Since officially MQA is deprecated on Tidal, maybe it's time to switch back to a more ecosystem-agnostic music streaming service that integrates with my Roon system and has multichannel-Atmos content again? 🤔

I'm glad there's competition especially against the likes of Apple and their closed ecosystem. While I appreciate Apple's leadership in multichannel/Spatial/Atmos music, I find that I'm always feeling a bit constrained by what they allow me to do with their machines whether it's the Apple TV, iPhone or more broadly MacOS. My wife and daughter can stick with the Apple stuff while the more tech savvy men of this household choose Windows and Android. 😏

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A listen to Auro-3D & Auro-Matic...

With the Integra DRX-8.4 supporting Auro-3D since the early 2024 firmware upgrade (manual here), I figure this would be a good time to have a quick listen to Auro-3D and Auro-Matic upsampling.

While the Belgium-developed Auro-3D has been around awhile (first movie released in this format was back in 2012 with the movie Red Tails; same year as Brave featuring Dolby Atmos' first cinematic outing), the format never really took off with few natively encoded movies. Here's a list of releases. A few titles with Auro-3D encoding you might already have in your Ultra/BluRay collection: Jumanji - Welcome to the Jungle, Pixels, Inferno, Ferrari, The Dark Tower, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Bladerunner 2049, Spider-Man: Homecoming.

When it comes to music, there's not much Auro-3D out there that I have seen. 2L has some available for download. Boris Blank's Resonance has an Atmos/Auro-3D BluRay available. Pure Audio Recordings also has a selection for download.

The thing with Auro-3D is that it's not encoded like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X with the same level of object-based embeddings. Rather, we're looking at a system where the height and overhead layers (including the "Voice of God" - VOG) are folded down into the lowest bits of the existing lossless 24-bit channel data, like the technique used by MQA/QRONO, or the legacy HDCD to store metadata or extra content.

That lossless 24-bit bed content for Auro-3D can be encoded in DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD soundtrack containers. Any lossless codec will work, including multichannel FLAC.

While these days the Dolby Atmos ceiling height speaker arrangement has won out in most homes, the original Auro-3D arrangement called for something like this:

As far as I can tell, no VOG channel in most receiver set-ups.

I suspect there must be some flexibility in studios monitoring the mix to adapt, notice the height channels placed in the corners of the room and we have that VOG speaker directly overhead. The intent then is to create a height upper tier (with height front center channel) and dome effect over the listener in that 11.1 arrangement:

For more information on the encoding, have a look at the Auro-3D whitepaper, notice the mention of what they call the "Octopus" codec. Here's a video featuring Wilfried van Baelen of Auro - note some hype in there:

In the video, Mr. van Baelen focuses on dynamic range, bit-depth, and the justification for embedding Auro metadata in the lowest 4-bits so as to create dual 20-bit channels (base channel + height) from a single 24-bit stream. That's actually fine IMO. In fact, even if the codec used the lowest 6-bits to create dual 18-bit channels would still sound great. Even though we can prefer lossless formats for our favorite music, I don't think as audiophiles or home-theater lovers there's need to be lossless "absolutists". Just as in the hi-res video world where all delivery formats are lossy in nature, what we care most about is adequate bitrate and transparency in controlled, blinded, codec listening tests. As I noted before, lossy Dolby EAC3-Atmos streams sound great already at 768kbps (assuming of course that the final encoder used was of high quality which consumers would have no awareness of).

[Given the bit-depth discussion in that video, imagine the world of audiophilia if CD-Audio was 18-bit resolution. With around 108dB dynamic range, I wonder if many audiophiles would complaint still?! I'm sure some "Golden Ears" would but it'd be much harder to justify such concerns.]

I watched a bit of The Dark Tower with Auro-3D decode to my 5.2.2 setup through the Shield TV Pro. Not bad, have a listen to the ending fight around 1:19 onward for some pretty intense height effects even with just 2 speakers up there (for 2 height channels, they have to be arranged as front placement with Auro-3D; not as flexible as Dolby or DTS on this receiver where the 2 channels could be mid-ceiling or rear corner/ceiling placement).

Boris Blank's Resonance ripped from BluRay to 7.1 24/48 FLAC file decoded as Auro-3D 11.1. Played from the Windows 11 fanless MiniPC via HDMI, free K-Lite Codec Pack with Media Player Classic Home Cinema used.

These days, a lot of my multichannel listening is to multichannel music, stuff ripped over the years to my Roon server, often sourced from Dolby TrueHD to either 5.1 or 7.1 FLAC or 512kbps multichannel-AAC (using Fraunhofer encoder) if I don't deem it to be high quality material, like live concerts.

Let's turn on Auro-Matic as the default upsampler on my Integra DRX-8.4 using the handy web interface for music streamed from the fanless MiniPC:

These settings will tell the receiver to use Auro-3D decode or Auro-Matic upmixing for PCM data from the computer and if it detects bit-streamed Dolby or DTS, then prefer their respective upmixing algorithms; all very elegant. As you can imagine, we can do all kinds of mix-and-match between the decoded content and upmixing algorithms.

At Auro-Matic "Medium" preset, the 5.1/7.1 music sounds pretty good. "Movie" preset seems to add a little zest on my system, so give that one a try as well even for music. I was listening to some of Bryan Adam's live recordings like Wembley Live 1996, the new The World of Hans Zimmer Part II: A New Dimension (2025), and The Weeknd's Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025, DR6 stereo, DR11 multichannel/Atmos) over Apple Music into Auro-3D.

As discussed in this video:

There tends to be more audio in the height channels with Auro-Matic than Dolby Surround Upmixer (DSU) and DTS Neural:X as it simulates the upper level space for whatever scene or music you're listening to. As a result, what I hear in my room is more height expansion stretched up for everything I'm listening to. When there's something happening overhead like a plane or helicopter flying by in a movie, there's a distinct accentuation of the height "sound field" rather than impression of content that pops up once awhile up there. Clearly a different effect than DSU or Neural:X.

Which of these three I prefer might just depend on the mood; for now, my impression is that DTS Neural:X seems to be the most "aggressive" of the three when it comes to spatial expansion with more side-to-side effect than either Dolby or Auro. I'm happy to leave my Roon streaming as Auro-3D/Auro-Matic to gather some longer term listening impressions. Hey, if Dr. Floyd Toole likes Auro upmixing, I gotta give it a chance. 😉

For completeness, the receiver also has an "Audio Surround" setting which is a "2D" upmixing option that does not utilize the height channels; think of this as Auro's version of the older Dolby ProLogic IIx processing.

I'm not sure what the status of the Auro company is currently. It was widely reported that the company declared bankruptcy in 2022 so the fact that we're still seeing the feature licensed in newer receivers and even getting a shout-out with the nVidia Shield TV suggests they're still making deals on the format presumably after some restructuring over the last couple of years.

I'm really enjoying the immersive audio experience these days as more content comes online. Have fun, audio/videophiles! 🙂

Parting song from The Weeknd. Apparently Mr. Tesfaye will no longer be using the pseudonym after this album; we'll see, I believe there were other such rumors before.