r/ShieldAndroidTV

I got the new Plex app update on my Shield Pro 2019 today, and honestly, the UI isn’t my biggest issue. You can argue about the redesign, but personally, I don’t think it’s a complete disaster.

The functionality, however, is a different story. I’m seriously disappointed—although after the whole debacle with the smartphone app, I probably should have expected this. You’d think Plex would have learned something about releasing an unfinished app, but apparently not.

At this point, I genuinely wonder what the developers do for a living. Before adding extras like server maintenance to a TV app, maybe make sure the actual player works properly?

My Shield is connected to a Yamaha RX-A6A, which supports pretty much every audio format I throw at it. Everything worked perfectly with the old app. With the new one, audio playback feels like Russian roulette:

- TrueHD 2.0 gets transcoded because it’s supposedly “not supported.”

- TrueHD with Atmos works correctly via passthrough.

- DD+ 7.1 works via passthrough.

- DD+ with Atmos doesn’t work via passthrough.

- DTS 5.1 works via passthrough.

- DTS-HD MA 7.1 only works when decoded by the Shield, rather than passed through.

- DTS:X works via passthrough.

And here’s the really bizarre part: if I enable “Force Direct Play,” everything works except DTS:X, which becomes completely silent.

Same hardware, same receiver, same files. The old app handled them just fine, while the new one behaves inconsistently depending on the audio format—and forcing Direct Play somehow changes which formats work.

This really isn’t usable in its current state. Reliable playback should be the bare minimum for a TV streaming app, not something that gets broken while extra features are added.

Anyone else seeing similar audio passthrough issues on the Shield after the update?

Hello, on the new UI on the box i can't find the option to refresh the library anyone use it or found it ? I can refresh on the phone but i don't like it .

I have an OLED TV and have never used the AI upscaling feature. Is it worth enabling? If it can make 1080p content look close to 4K, what settings give the best results?

Also:

Is there an indicator that shows when it's active?

I only want it applied to 1080p content, not native 4K. Is the TV smart enough to skip 4K content automatically, or do I need to turn it off manually?

Hey folks! Just wanted to share that I got my DualSense working wirelessly with my Shield TV while streaming games from my PC, with controller audio/mic/gyro working as well.

I’m using Punktfunk for game streaming to my Shield TV 2017. The Shield TV is connected to a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W running DS5Dongle.

The DS5Dongle firmware turns the Raspberry Pi Pico into a DualSense USB dongle, allowing the Shield to recognize the controller and pass through features like the gyro and microphone/audio. Punktfunk passes these features onto my PC while streaming.

With this setup, I have nearly the same experience I had with the Shield TV Controller that came with my 2017 Shield. Except the Shield controller unfortunately died and I think Nvidia stopped making these so I was not able to buy a replacement.

If you've been looking for a way to use a DualSense wirelessly with your Shield TV for game streaming and have controller audio/mic/gyro enabled, this might be worth checking out! I believe this also supports the adaptive trigger and haptics but none of the PC games I play support this.

Let me know how it works for you, and feel free to ask any questions about my setup.