6 ways to repurpose an old NVIDIA Shield TV
I know what you’re thinking: yes, the Shield TV is old, but it still gets updates! While this is true for some models, it is not true for all. So if you’ve upgraded to something new, we’ve got some ideas for that trusty NVIDIA Shield TV sitting in your media cabinet.
The most recent NVIDIA Shield TV was released six years ago, and it’s the model that generally still sees occasional maintenance updates. The 2015 and 2017 models receive fewer updates, and even the 2019 model went two years without an update from 2022 to 2024. There’s no shame in using your old Shield TV in other ways.
One of the Shield TV’s initial selling points was that it could be used as a Plex media server. In fact, it has been integrated directly into the Plex app that comes on the device. All you need to do is open the Plex app and check the “Enable Plex Media Server” box. You will be guided through the process of setting up the server and choosing which folders to search for media. Load an external hard drive full of your favorite movies and shows, and you can plug it directly into one of the Shield’s USB ports, without needing to buy a dedicated NAS or occupy an old PC.
How I Turned My Old Android Phone into a Media Server
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Use it as a retro gaming console
Another of the Shield TV’s original selling points was gaming. The Tegra chips are still very capable and you probably still have the controller too. It’s perfect for a retro gaming machine. Simply download an emulator like RetroArch, set up a few controller profiles, and you’re good to go. The extra power over a Google TV device means you can try to emulate old PlayStation or GameCube games, not just the Super Nintendo or Nintendo 64.
Maybe you don’t care about accessing your local media on network-connected devices. While we all love a good streaming service, you may just need one central device to access all your local media files. Apps like Kodi or VLC are designed for this sort of thing, and the Shield’s hardware decoding capabilities mean it can handle virtually any demanding file format or bitrate you throw at it. Again, simply load an external storage device with media and plug it into the Shield’s USB port.
Watch OTA TV anywhere in your home
If you’ve cut the cord but still use an over-the-air (OTA) antenna, your Shield TV can let you watch these channels on TVs that can’t reach coaxial cable. By combining the Shield with an HDHomeRun, you can “stream” OTA TV channels to a TV anywhere in your home. Plus, if you want to be more, since the Shield TV works as a Plex server, you can configure it to be the device that records live TV to the connected hard drive. Pretty cool.
- Connectivity
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Ethernet
- Dimensions
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7″L x 5″W x 2.2″H
Keep an eye on security camera feeds
Here’s a simple one. If your old Shield has trouble handling anything other than opening a single app, you can turn any TV into a dedicated security monitor. Install an app like TinyCam Pro and configure it to display a grid of feeds from all your Wi-Fi or LAN cameras. You can install a television in your office or even in your garage to keep an eye on the camera feeds as if you were Lucious Fox in The Black Knight.
Install Ubuntu Linux on it
And here is a very complex one. If you want to breathe new life into your Shield TV, you can ditch Android altogether and install Linux on it. There is a version of Ubuntu designed to run on Tegra chips, and members of the XDA Forums have all the details on how to get it working. Not for the faint of heart, but for the serious DIYer, the result is a surprisingly capable little box running a full desktop operating system.
The real key to using an older set-top box like the NVIDIA Shield TV is to keep things simple. Remove all unnecessary applications and turn it into unitasker. Whether it’s a retro game console or a security monitor, it can easily get the job done.
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