The Chromecast took a big leap in quality in 2020 when the Chromecast was launched with Google TV. Its big bet against the Chromecast Ultra is and continues to be its operating system. The Chromecast now no longer depends exclusively on a smartphone to make our home TV smart. We now have native apps, access to the Google Play Store and we can also play video games, either on Android or via streaming. Now that the Chromecast plays in another league, it’s time to compare it with other similar products. What differences does it have with respect to the Nvidia Shield TV? Well, let’s see it carefully in this post.
Chromecast with Google TV vs. Nvidia Shield TV
Both the Chromecast and the latest version of the Shield TV were released in 2020 . Nvidia’s bet has always been seen as a superior device to the Chromecast , and it is an objective fact, since it is more powerful and has a greater number of functionalities. The Chromecast, on the other hand, is a simple, more affordable, and easy-to-recommend product. However, now that a few months have passed after the launch of these two streaming devices, Nvidia is gradually lowering the price of the Shield, which makes its purchase much more attractive compared to the Chromecast.
Design
Starting with the visual section, Google’s Chromecast has a fairly continuous design, very similar to the Ultra. It is sold in three colors (white, light blue and coral) and as a novelty, it includes a small remote control .
On the other hand, the Shield TV is shaped like a tube. It receives the power at one end of the cylinder and we will connect it to the television at the other end using an HDMI cable. Nvidia’s device controller is also somewhat peculiar, as it is shaped like a triangular prism with rounded corners. In this regard, Google’s solution will probably get you more in the eyes, although everything will depend on your tastes .
Power
Inside the small cylinder of the Nvidia device is a Tegra X1 + processor, that is, an evolution of the Nintendo Switch SoC. It is a quad-core and has 3 GB of RAM. Thanks to this silicon, the Shield TV develops its best feature, which is intelligent 4K upscaling. Using artificial intelligence, the processor is capable of generating pixels in real time to convert content that is not natively in that resolution into 4K. And although it may seem like a lie, it works really well.
The Chromecast on the other hand is not such a powerful device. Its processor is a quad-core Amlogic S905X3 and 2 GB of RAM. Its great asset is not the computing power, but its artificial intelligence ready to recommend content and its new interface. And its compatibility with Stadia , of course, but we’ll talk about that a little later.
OS
Nvidia Shield TV uses Android TV , while Chromecast runs Google TV . Both products are under the Google umbrella, and today you will practically only see differences at the interface level . Google TV is really a customization, a kind of Android TV skin.
In this regard, the two products can run Android applications and use all kinds of Google services as their voice assistant. But this is where the Chromecast stands out over the Shield, and it is that Google TV offers us a machine-learning system capable of recommending content according to our tastes. Still, many Android TV products are transitioning to Google TV, so it wouldn’t be surprising if, at some point, Nvidia decided to update the Shield TV and end up running Google TV.
Connectivity
Shield TV wins the connectivity battle by a landslide. Let’s remember that these two products are capable of playing 4K content starting from a Wi-FI network. That is, if your connectivity is bad, you will not be able to make the most of the device.
Unless you do it by cable, of course. In both products you will be able to connect an Ethernet cable , but here there is a clear difference. In the Shield TV you will simply have to connect the cable to its RJ-45 port compatible with Gigabit Ethernet and that’s it. And on the Chromecast? You will have to use a dongle and the speed will be limited to 10/100 Mbps . The good thing about the adapter is that you can use it from PoE (that is, you can feed it with the ethernet cable itself if your router or Switch supports this standard).
The Shield also has a slot to insert our microSD , allowing to expand the storage of this TV-box, something that in the Chromecast we can only do with a USB hub .
Another point where the Shield TV wins again is in the Bluetooth section, since it supports version 5.0 and LE , while the Chromecast only allows us to use this technology to connect the remote control.
Regarding the voice assistants, both support Google Assistant, but the Shield TV is also compatible with Alexa .
And in the field of Gaming?
Chromecast and Shield TV are also two devices designed to access streaming video game services from Google and Nvidia, and at this point, both teams have very clear strengths and weaknesses.
To use the GeForce Now service on your Nvidia Shield TV, you will have to purchase the Nvidia remote, called the Nvidia Shield TV Controller . The Chromecast wins this battle, since to access Stadia you can use both the official Google Stadia control and any compatible control that we have at home (PS4, PS5, Xbox …).
However, today, Stadia is much less attractive than GeForce Now . The catalog of Google’s cloud gaming service is considerably smaller than in the case of Nvidia. In addition, GeForce Now allows you to stream games from your Steam library for a small fee, while on the Google platform we will be forced to checkout again. Of course, Stadia beats GeForce Now in terms of load times , since they are almost instantaneous. It is also a much more stable service than Nvidia’s cloud gaming proposal.
Where to buy the Chromecast or Nvidia Shield TV
The Chromecast with Google TV is available in the Google Store for 69.99 euros . It is a much higher price than the recommended price in the United States, which is $ 50.
Nvidia’s proposal is sometimes available on Amazon in some third-party stores. Amazon does not usually directly sell equipment that is the competition of its Amazon Fire TV, so the best thing to do is buy it through the Nvidia Store , where it has an approximate price of 150 euros .
As you may have seen, the Shield TV’s superiority over the Chromecast is offset by its price. That is why we say that the Shield TV becomes more attractive on dates such as Black Friday, since for a few euros more, you get a much more powerful and complete device than the Chromecast.
