We're considering shutting down our media PC for good, as it's aged, noisy and draws a lot of power. We've been googling around and it seems like Nvidia Shield would be a good substitute. However, we mainly seem to get the positive ads or positive reviews about it when we search around, and I would like to get some more "rounded" comments about it.
How does it perform with VPN? Can you stream games from other computers? Does it handle media streaming services well without lag? Is it a time/money sink?
If you are getting it for local playback (i.e. Plex), get a Zidoo Z9x or something along those lines. You'll have way less headaches, I promise you.
Plex is becoming more and more of a pain in the ass. The company is trying to push everyone to get a plex pass and I suspect it probably won't even be free for too much longer. This is just based on recent changes and where I see the software going. To top it all off, Plex on Android is by far the worst thing on the fucking planet. Every other update breaks basic functionailty.
So yea, do yourself a favor and just get something like a Zidoo. It's the same price as a 2019 shield pro anyway. Just note that a Zidoo isn't for streaming. It's for local playback only.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, the Shield has incorrect colors for Dolby Vision Profile 7 (blu ray format). So if you are playing those, then definitely DO NOT get the Shield.