I’m hoping to get some feedback on an issue I have with the Nvidia Shield TV remote control.
I find on startup that my remote takes quite a while to respond after the main screen comes up. I sit there trying to scroll to the Plex app and it just does nothing. Eventually it does and I start up Plex, this can take several minutes.
When in Plex I find the remote in a movie to be unresponsive, I have to press buttons multiple times to ffwd etc and sometimes it does nothing.
I did ask the retailer to send me a replacement unit because it’s still under warranty but they want the whole unit back and I’m up for a bit of postage there and back so I’m after some feedback on how you find the remote on the Nvidia before I send it all back.
When I first started using a Shield TV a few years ago I decided that the remote that came with it was, to put it mildly, a total piece of crap. However I had one of the first Fire Sticks that had failed for me earlier so I had its remote sitting around. I checked on the internet and found that it was possible to pair that remote with the Shield and it would even give functionality that the original Shield remote did not have, namely a true “play” button.
After that pairing I have never again seen any response problem from my Shield except for when I am forced to use the Shield’s remote like when I had to factory reset my Shied a few months ago and the, using the Shield’s remote, I did experience some rather drastic poor remote performance. But after I again paired the Fire remote everything was snappy again.
My conclusion, from my very limited experience, is that the Shield’s original remote is truly inferior and it is cwest replaced with a Fire TV’s remote.
BTW: I left out that the original Fire remote that I used got dropped in a cup of hot tea and stopped working so I had to get another. What I did was check Amazon and they were running a special on Fire Sticks and I picked one up for $20.00 and then simply used its remote for my Shield and stored the Fire Stick in a drawer. That was less expensive than buying a replacement fFire remote.
Also I have a Harmony Hub for my system and its remote is also quite a bit snappier than the original Shield remote.
I have even tested an IR USB dongle and a computer IR remote with my Shield and that performance is also better than the original Shield remote.
Again: For me the bottom line is that you should use almost any remote other than the original with a Shield TV if you want reliable and snappy performance.
I see similar behavior immediately after starting the Shield from the Off state.
It does however react swiftly when it is just in power-save mode.
When using the game controller, no such issue.
I also found out that my version of the Shield has a HDMI-CEC adapter, which means I can use the remote of my TV to operate it - including most of the dedicated playback/stop/ffw etc. buttons. Scrolling is much slower though.
Once in a while I find my Nvidia Shield starts running like crap, so the power cable just needs to be fully disconnected for 10 seconds and then reconnected.
The “turn off” option in the menu or voice command is just a soft reboot, and I never found it helpful when I was getting slowdown
Thanks for all the input from everyone here. I had an issue last night with Plex and I found thing improved a lot when I removed the pairing of my Logitech hub setup.
As for the Fire Stck remote, could you please supply the model number of the remote? Looking on eBay there appears to be several models of fire stick and also of remotes separately. Nothings really cheap here in Australia and much on Amazon doesn’t ship here so I’d prefer to get the right model to begin with.
Also, how well does the fire stick itself work with Plex? Do you need to the 4K model? Thinking of one for the spare TV.
As far as I know every Fire Stick remote works well with the Shield. I have the original Fire Stick, a Fire 4K Stick and an original Fire TV and the remote that came with each has at one time or another been successfully paired with my Shield. The current remote used with the Shield has several numbers in the battery compartment that might be the model number:
R-NZ
201-180360
IC-23445-5463
One of those might be the remote’s model but I cannot be sure. I think it came with the 4K Stick.
My Fire 4K Stick worked OK with Plex but the connection proved to be flaky and would drop from time to time so I retired it, at least for now, and I now for Fire TV only use an original Fire TV box hooked up wired.
It should also be noted that I run no streamers wirelessly. I find that wired is a LOT more reliable and that makes wireless just not worth the effort. I will never again, except under most unusual circumstances, buy a wireless device for streaming.
I hope that helps a bit.
BTW: I cannot make any guarantee about how any remote will work running upside down in Australia. Maybe even the electrons run backward down there.
if it wasn’t for the ridiculous UPS shipping costs to Australia I’d buy my batteries from the US just so that the electrons go the right direction, what do UPS do to charge that, do they buy each package a first class seat, I imagine my packages sipping champagne on the way over.
I’ve found a few other posts on the Nvidia site about various good remotes that may be more available here. I tried to buy a Firestick 4K and normal in Amazon and they won’t ship them here, their local site is useless.
I’ve also found a lot of complaints on forums about how poor the standard remote is, so I’m thinking I’ll save my postage and not bother returning it, seems that’s the way they are, crap…
one thing a “regular” computer ir or rf remote using a USB dongle will usually work OK with the Shield. I have tested several and they all work fine.
Two I have tested are: Remote 1
and Remote 2
Of course those are from Amazon and may or may not be available down under.
it’s not totally ideal (and I completely dislike it but do it in a pinch when I can’t find my remote), but some people actually prefer it, have you tried your smartphone as a remote? There’s an android tv remote app out there…
