EDIT:
So according to this thread, this is a Google related change and not Nvidia?
In which case, similar to the banner issue from a previous update, you can get a different launcher (see comments for FLauncher) to avoid it
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndroidTV/comments/181vh4t/ads_at_full_screen/
But I bought the hardware, why do I want full screen ads on bootup and between launching every app?
Imagine a laptop playing a full screen ad every time you closed word to open up your web browser. Just rather thow my laptop at the wall.
Windows 11 (in certain markets anyway):
I don’t need to imagine, Windows already has ads lol
I’m so excited for the new… reads feature updates… full-screen ads?
Fuck off. This is why I will never purchased an “embedded” device.
What are you using now if you don’t mind me asking. Had a Roku and moved to this for the quality of sound and video
I have an old RPi2 laying around that runs OSMC. I rarely watch stuff on my TV, most of the time I just watch it on my second monitor while I’m doing stuff.
These devices are pretty popular, so if you have one it might be time to disable updates
If Google can update the user interface server-side, doesn’t that mean that disabling updates still wouldn’t work for avoiding these full screen ads?
depends on how they plan on implementing the update and what they already have in place software and firmware-wise
I already did that a long time ago to my Shield TV… I downgraded to 8.2.3 and turned off auto update plus some debloat.
For me the stock launcher is the best launcher yet.
This is probably one of the purchases I regret the most. First they updated it and put shitty banner ads in the launcher so I had to install a custom one to get round that. Then they disabled game stream which I’ll admit I only used a few times, but it was still one of the reasons I went with the shield over another device. And now this…
I think when I replace it I’ll just get a mini PC instead
I would never regret about my Nvidia Shield TV, in fact it is one of the best purchases I have ever done, I have one since 2018 or 2017 perhaps and that unit got busted and Nvidia replaced mine for free (they sent me a power adapter first, which didn’t help for my issue, for free too) even when it was outside of the warranty period, and they didn’t even replace it for another 2017 unit, they gave me the 2019 pro, perhaps for inventory reasons, (and a ruler as a gift lol) a very pro move if you ask me.
Now the 2019 unit is dated for sure, and the launcher with ads was a dirt move sure, that is why I downgraded the unit and debloated it, this is how my unit looks like now.
I mean I still appreciate they are still supporting hardware from 2015 in 2023.
You can still game stream with sunlight + moonlight. And the advantage is that it works with any brand GPU.
I’ll have to give that a try! Is there noticeable input delay? With game stream it was fine even over WiFi
Im streaming over wifi and it says average encode latency 4-7ms depending on the day, but thats just what the software reports. I haven’t had any issues with it.
Here is a 1440p 120fps HEVC example over wifi. Left screen is my PC. Analyzing it frame by frame it would guess a added delay of 16-32ms on my Galaxy Tab S7, idk how much of that is the response time of the tablet screen. Note this is without the low latency mode which I disabled because I had some frame pacing over wifi with it.
Looks pretty good!
You regret the most? I’ve made much worse purchases. I just use a custom launcher, which the fact that it’s an option is more than most services can say. It’s nice that it’s running android so I can install any APK I want (thank you SmartTubeNext). And the fact I can quickly control it/type from my phone is nice. Not to mention, I think every remote should have the “find my remote” button that makes it ring. And while it’s decently expensive, and there are certainly other cheaper options, I would say this is far from one of the worst purchases I made.
I’m sure I’ve made worse purchases but tbh I’m struggling to think of any truly bad purchases I’ve made at the moment, even this I don’t consider bad as it still does pretty much everything I want. I just don’t appreciate paying to be treated like shit by a company. And the main reasons I chose the shield over cheaper devices was the lack of ads and game stream, both of which have been taken away (yes the ads can be bypassed with a bit of tweaking but I shouldn’t have to)
Would a pihole or something like adguars dns that stops ads be a good solution to this? Or would I be stuck with just full screen black screen?
Depends on how they do it I guess
I remember reading about the newer home screen added a promotional banner. It was showing content from the apps themselves (ex. New shows from Disney+) but it was still annoying and a lot of people switched to a different launcher.
People will probably figure something out
edit: see the comment by @looping@jlai.lu
That’s a good point. I didn’t notice but have a ton of ads now from Disney etc…I’ll try flauncher
Is there a good alternative to Google TVs? I recently bought a TV and absolutely hate Google on it.
I have a media server, is there a way to install a launcher for my TV that can access Netflix, YouTube, Plex and other services?
I love(d) my Shield, I first bought the original, and then the updated model. I use it every day, but the lack of hardware updates (still using USB 2, only has 12 GB internal storage, low RAM, etc…) and constant ads and “sponsored content” has made me fall out of love with it.
I asked a few weeks back about a replacement and someone recommended this one to me. It runs on Android 12, supports 4K Dolby Atmos and Vision, and has better hardware than the Shield. It isn’t cheap though.
Same price as a shield tho, so might be equally worth it if it is good?
The person that recommended it to me said they love it and kept recommending other things I could do with it, like install an ARM version of Linux that runs Kodi as the frontend instead of Linux. I don’t mind paying the money if it’s of equal or greater quality than the Shield.
So it could get the same update that makes the launcher an ad-riddled cesspit?
How easy are these devices to root and install alternative roms? Are there alternative roms available to install?
I really wish these devices were more like desktop computers. I want the freedom to install anything I want.
What I posted is a generic Android TV box that you can switch launchers and stuff on. The Shield is so popular and is/was the only good STB that they pumped it full of ads, just like any other popular platform.
IDK the modability of it, but it’s gotta be better than what I have currently.
Thanks, I appreciate the response.
My solution last weekend when I saw this post was to downgrade both my sheilds to 8.2.3, I never liked the adds on the sheilds main homepage tbh but have gotten used to the as time passed.
In this process though once I downgraded I noticed the adds displayed once again on both my sheilds. This was because the android tv launcher app downloads a update. To get around this I disabled auto upgrade of apps on my sheilds and denyed the upgrade of the Google tv launcher and removed the update. No more adds on the launcher.
I have a feeling this is how google will push full screen adds through their launcher app in the play store.
Here is a well written guide how to downgrade to 8.2.3 that I followed.
https://florisse.nl/shield-downgrade/
Took about 30min on my second sheilds once I figured out the first sheild after 2 hours.
Thanks - this makes me hate Google TV even more. You shouldn’t have to go through that much work to keep your devices useful.
Do you have the playstore on it?
On the TV? Yes, I do.
I haven’t tried using adb to install new launchers yet.
Try this one
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spocky.projengmenu&hl=de&gl=US
Been using it for a year now, really happy with it.
Is it easy to set up as the default launcher?
Damn I considered one of these for a little bit when I was working on getting my own home streaming setup going. Decided against it because it looked kinda stupid and I hate Android and a lot of the stuff that comes with it. I guess I dodged a bullet on that one.
To be honest, there is hardly any good competition for the Shield TV Pro even on this day, but that is the fault of the industry completely.
You dodged a rocket lol. I have firetv which is android based. But I only have it Kodi. Roku is probably the best streaming. Unless you have a different smart platform on your TV such as LG or Samsung.
Shit like this is why I haven’t updated my Shield in the 2 years I’ve had it and never will.
same, still running the pre-ad stock OS. i do keep it offline though, it only accesses local media
I still dream about an update similar to 8.2.3 lol
I occasionally see auto-playing ad on my Chromecast with Google TV about twice a year so far. Every time I hit Send Feedback immediately and say something harsh about the ads and they disappear shortly after. I’m considering building a LineageOS Android TV machine based on the ODROID-C4. I’m just unsure what level of Widevine I’d get. I’d be okay with 1080p. 720p would be a bit shit. Anyone tried this route?
Interesting… I have an OG Shield, also in the Netherlands, but have seen no ads (that being said, companies A/B test and do gradual rollout of this kind of BS).
But I also kept my Android Home in the version without ads by disabling Play Store updates and instead manually going over all apps (except Home!) every month or so (or when I have an issue with any app I use).
I feel confident that I’ll be able to hack my way around this new form of ads.
Yeah, not updating the home launcher is usually the fix for all these annoyances, until the oldest version of it that you can rollback has ads though.
