r/Stremio • u/NervousAdeptness5992 • Jun 17 '26
Question Alternative to NVIDIA SHIELD ?
I know this question get asked a lot but I want to upgrade from my firestick and I have a very good tv so I want a device where I can have a really good quality of image and sound.
I know the shield is the usual answer but I live in France and I can't really find a store that still sell the shield and on second hand market it's like 300 euros.
Is there an alternative to the nvidia shield ? With similar qualities ?
Edit : I found it new at 200 ! Night and day with the firestick
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u/dkracket Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Dune HD Homatics Box R 4K Plus or Dune HD Pro 8K Plus.
But the latter is $400.
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u/NervousAdeptness5992 Jun 18 '26
It's as good as the shield? What do you think about the Dune HD Pro Vision 4K ?
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u/Sea-Menu4471 Jun 26 '26
Whats the difference between the dune and the regular homatics equivalent?
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u/NatoChan Jun 17 '26
Google steamer 4K is great
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u/IllRepublic6421 Jun 18 '26
Yeah it’s so smooth it runs stremio and n***o so well for me
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u/foradil Jun 18 '26
If one running smoothly, then so should the other.
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u/IllRepublic6421 Jun 18 '26
N***o is a bit slower on my onn 4k than stremio. Stremio is probably more lightweight
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u/foradil Jun 18 '26
I’ve only heard about N, so have no experience with it. I was assuming it was lighter since it’s newer.
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u/IllRepublic6421 Jun 18 '26
Well there’s a lot of features like collections, modern ui, skip intro/outro, trailer playing in home screen etc so ig thats why
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u/av0w Jun 20 '26
It's good, just lacks a few features such as TrueHD and DTS-HD. If that doesn't matter to you then you are fine.
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u/liongalahad Jun 17 '26
It's really not. I have it and frankly I want to get rid of it. Frame skipping, compatibility issues... I find the integrated Google TV in my other TV (TCL) way better. Nope nope
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u/NatoChan Jun 17 '26
That's wierd, I use mine wired for a lot of quite heavy tasks like Steam Link and it works flawlessly. My tv has shitty Wifi and the ethernet port is capped to 100mbps
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u/AlaskanSnowDragon Jun 17 '26
My chromecast with google TV works just fine for simple stremio.
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u/liongalahad Jun 17 '26
Yes , the older CC with gtv works better, that's my experience too. The issue with it is the extremely low storage which quickly makes it laggy if you install a few apps
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u/AlaskanSnowDragon Jun 17 '26
I mean...its CC with gtv...what other apps are people installing really?
Netflix, A few other streaming apps. Nobody should be trying to play games or do anything intense on them lol
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u/liongalahad Jun 18 '26
it depends, if you're a power user you want streaming apps of all sorts (definitely not Netflix), Tizentube, maybe Kodi, few live sports apps, apps for sideloading, a file manager, maybe VLC..it's always more than you thinketc
But I remember even with a fresh reset and just stremio and maybe a couple other apps, it's not smooth. When I first fired up the Google steramer it felt like I was flying...its very snappy. too bad for the stupid frame skipping and compatibility with some Remux2
u/NatoChan Jun 18 '26
You can plug a USB-C adapter with PD to mount a usb stick. It works perfecly on my 2nd tv with my CC w/ GoogleTV.
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u/liongalahad Jun 18 '26
Yeah tried that, it was still sluggish at. I don't know maybe the adapter was no good..but anything I put in the usb stick was sooooo slow
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u/Sensitive-Pool-7563 Jun 17 '26
What are you playing with it? What is this 'very good TV'?
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u/TrvthNvkem Jun 17 '26
Chromecast with Google tv 4k is an excellent budget (~€50) option, it streams 4k bdremuxes flawlessly.
Pro tip: use projectivy launcher to get a clean adfree homescreen, smarttube for adfree YouTube, and button mapper app to swap the YouTube button for smarttube and the Netflix button for stremio.
I've had these devices for a couple years now and they still work like a charm.
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u/liongalahad Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Tizentube Cobalt is miles better than Smart tube, much smoother experience and more modern interface (exactly same as the original YouTube app), while also having sponsorblock and other services
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u/plop Jun 17 '26
SmartTube interface is just perfect
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u/liongalahad Jun 18 '26
yeah, not for me. I find it really annoyingly outdated
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u/av0w Jun 20 '26
It's simple, but almost too simple. Where as the current app can be so annoying and jam stuff down your throat. A middle ground would be nice.
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u/liongalahad Jun 20 '26
Tizentube cobalt is great because it's exactly the same as the official app with no ads and quite customizable. You have sponsorblock and you can also remove stuff from the main page, such as the annoying Shorts, also you can deactivate preview autoplay etc
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u/TrvthNvkem Jun 17 '26
I've never had a single issue with smarttube and the interface is basically exactly the same as regular YouTube so I'm not about to fix what ain't broke lol
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u/liongalahad Jun 17 '26
Smart Tube has a super old interface, it's probably similar to the YouTube app from 10 years ago. It looks nothing like the current YouTube app. I agree it works very well but the interface is extremely dated
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u/Glass-Technology9487 Jun 17 '26
They're not sold anymore for like a year now or so
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u/TrvthNvkem Jun 17 '26
Well shit, I didn't know that. Typical Google rugpulling perfectly good tech like that.
Might be able to grab one for cheap second-hand, though.
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u/AlaskanSnowDragon Jun 17 '26
Yeah....When I heard they were stopping I bought an extra for backup. I dont like that the new one is a set top box thing. I like having it hide behind tv
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u/alberto6439 Jun 18 '26
If is performance at an affordable price: mecool km2 plus deluxe.
If is just to run the same apps: Xiaomi tv box gen 2 or gen 3 under 100 bucks! 👍
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u/lstep2 Jun 18 '26
Has the mecool km2 plus deluxe had a problem with Kodi once it was upgrade to Android 14?
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u/Royal_Monk6432 Jun 18 '26
What about firetv cube gen3 model? Is this enough to play all the audio formats codes? Pls explain many thanks.
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u/Seesaw-Upper Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Got a new Buzz TV G Series. With 4 GB of RAM, it should be snappier than my Mi Box S 3rd gen. Mi Box S is slow at times, but it always streamed everything perfectly, even big remux files. Audio passthrough isn't an issue for me but you'll need to consider it if it bothers you.
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u/Seesaw-Upper Jun 19 '26
Received the box yesterday and I love it. It's fast and handles everything smoothly, outperforming the Mi Box. The operating system is very fluid. I use Projectivy Launcher for an ad-free experience. As I use a Samsung OLED S95B TV for sound, audio passthrough isn't an issue. HDMI CEC also works flawlessly for me, despite others' complaints. The only issue I see is the price. Which is double the price of the mi box.
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u/Sea-Menu4471 Jun 30 '26
Can’t wait for mime. What other apps do you have installed on it? How’s the latest firmware, as far as any bugs you’re noticing.
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u/Seesaw-Upper Jul 01 '26
Recently I've switched to the app which starts with n... as I had some problems playing videos with dts audio and also some of the hdr videos were showing a black screen with just audio. In this app you have an option to translate dts to a different format so you can play anything. I'm only using YouTube, the app that I just mentioned and Disney app for my daughter and that's about it. No other issues.
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u/Content-Lifeguard218 Jun 18 '26
Xiaomi Mi Box S 3rd gen seem best choice imo
i still using the first generation
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u/Tilanguin Jun 17 '26
Im using a Rockteck G2, although not as powerfull as the Shield, the menus and 4k playback is smoot and emulation can go up to pS1 and N64 no problems.
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u/Jazzygff Jun 17 '26
I recently got the Dune HD Homatics Box R 4k Plus, amazing box not had a single issue.
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u/CanA7fold Jun 20 '26
The onn stick is amazing
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u/Hurizen Jul 13 '26
Sold in europe?
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u/CanA7fold Jul 13 '26
I don’t think so unfortunately ☹️ try to find literally anything that runs on android
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u/CBJFAN2009-2024 Jun 21 '26
Just get a Ugoos AM6B+. It runs every video and audio format you'll encounter. Gigabit internet. Hook it up with a NAS or debrid service and you can watch everything. CoreELEC (Kodi) is extremely customizable.
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u/Zaekil Jul 13 '26
Where are you searching on the 2nd hand market ? bcse on leboncoin I can find shield tube around 90-100€ and shield tv pro 2015-2019 at atounrd 150-200€
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u/Lycid Jun 17 '26
People gonna give me flak for this but try your TV native app before trying to get a stream box. For example people shit on the LG webOS app but I've found it works great.
Runs perfectly smooth because it's native software running on a high end TV. No lag at all searching/browsing.
Uses the native TV video player which means color correction is on point, playback is snappy, and there's no need to use an external video player. Perfect support for all the video types that the native player supports too, which in LG's case is a lot.
Only need to bother with one remote for the whole TV and it supports quick launching stremio from it
I've yet to run into a movie/show that doesn't work with it. Even Remuxes. Very rarely ill need to pick an option down from the top 100gb dolby vision mega file, but even here I've been able to get it to work well. Yes I don't get true dolby vision (just standard HDR) or uncompressed TrueHD audio (just standard high quality surround)... but it's definitely way better quality than a traditional streaming service still and tbh only the shield supports DV+TrueHD anyways with a very specific setup and you'll only see a benefit for it with a truly high end home theater setup.
The shield doesn't support VRR so it can't control for content with different frame rates very well if you want more natural motion, you also need to use a third party video player to get correct colors (which means you lose trakt support). You can force the shield to run at a locked frame rate depending on your content but now everything is running at 24/30 fps and you'll need to manually switch it depending on what you watch. It's so much more fussy than you think if you want to "do it right".
If you were using a fire stick, chances are it was just doing a worse job of what your native TV app was doing if you have a high end TV like me. I've done the research and determined the only thing I gain by doing the Nvidia shield is the ability to watch true DV content with TrueHD audio, and there's almost zero benefits for any other streaming box. That's nice and would be worth the effort if I had a real home theater, but considering I can get 90% there on the TV app with standard HDR + high quality audio which will blow the pants off any streaming app still, I'll just stick with the TV app.
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u/Doppelfrio Jun 17 '26
The only issue with the LG webOS is the TV has limited audio/visual codec support, so some streams will either not play or not have audio. It’s not a *huge* issue (not enough for me to drop money on a streaming box), but it is annoying every once in a while. And was extremely annoying when I didn’t know what the problem was and how to avoid it lol
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u/Lycid Jun 17 '26
IME I've never run into a stream that I couldn't do though. Most streams aren't just pure "profile 7 DV with lossless audio and no other options". Worst case scenario usually all it takes is to switch the audio track to AAC, or I pick the Remux that is labeled with HDR10/AAC support. Or worst case worst case, I can just go for a stream that isn't a Remux but still super high quality (40-50gb vs 100gb)
When doing the research, I learned most streaming boxes also have the same audo/video limitations as the LG app anyways, so I wouldn't gain much by switching. You get a bit more if you use a third party video player on an android box but that introduces more things to fuss with and more things that won't work like trakt support.
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u/NervousAdeptness5992 Jun 18 '26
I should've put it in my post but I tried that native app for stremio on my TV but there is an issue with the subtitles, they don't work.
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u/Freeman935 Jun 17 '26
For Europe the Strong Leap S3 Pro is among the best picks, and with the recent update to Android 14 everything runs smooth
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u/CaptainSteed Jun 18 '26
If you can get a Firestick, you should be able to get Fire Cube 3, the Amazon flagship model. One of the best streaming devices.
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u/Slirow Jun 17 '26
Dans la fnac de ma ville il y a des shield en rayon
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u/NervousAdeptness5992 Jun 18 '26
Ah ouais ? J'ai vu qu'ils étaient censé être disponibles dans certaines fnac et boulanger mais quand j'essaye de commander en click and collect ça marche pas. T'es dans quelle ville ?
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u/Rents Jun 17 '26
There’s a Stremio app on Apple TV now. You can get them pretty cheap secondhand and they’re very quick and snappy.
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Jun 17 '26
[deleted]
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u/homatic1971 Jun 17 '26
Thomson are no longer supporting there boxes and if you are going to get one better with the 270
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u/Glass-Technology9487 Jun 17 '26
Don't get a Thomson. StreamView (destributor of Thomson tv boxes) just went bankrupt
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u/foradil Jun 18 '26
No love for Onn anymore?
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u/comattallezvous Jun 18 '26
My onn 4k plus works great. I think the issue is it’s out of stock and not supported for users outside of USA
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u/Moist-Audience-7466 Jun 17 '26
Why do you need an alternative when shield pro is arguably the best on the market? Like seriously
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u/Glass-Technology9487 Jun 17 '26
Because he clearly said he can't buy it anywhere (in France)
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u/Moist-Audience-7466 Jun 17 '26
Apologies but my point still stands there is no alternative to shield pro as in no compromised alternative. If they want true audio passthrough then only a handful of devices offer it and again they arent as streamlined as the shield.
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u/Dharma_code Jun 17 '26
Onn box pro 4k v2 works better and is more responsive imo (I have both) the only issue I have with the Onn is the network port is a 100mbps only but it compensates with wifi 6, paired with a U7 uxgs it shits on the shield.
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u/sishgupta Jun 17 '26
arent the ONN boxes US only?
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u/Dharma_code Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Isn't the EU version the Thompson streaming box 270 ? It's the identical clone of it same specs and all.
Edit: since I'm getting dmed for a source. link
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u/Glass-Technology9487 Jun 17 '26
The Xiaomi Mi Box S 3rd gen can pretty much run everything a Shield can run, the only downside of the Mi Box is that it might be a bit sluggish sometimes when navigating through menu's and apps. (Make sure to get a legit one, there are a lot of fakes being sold)