The 2019 NVIDIA Shield TV is a no-brainer for Netflix bingers or gamers alike. It's powerful, has a great remote, and offers cutting-edge support for the best streaming content available.

The Nvidia Shield TV 2019 offers seamless game-streaming, fast-loading 4K HDR content and ambitious AI upscaling for 1080p video.

I love it a lot. It’s not flawless: the AI upscaling technology just didn’t prove useful for most of the content my partner and I watch, and we’re still yet to see how well it works with GeForce Now in Australia. Others might also prefer the cheaper route of Chromecast devices, or just sticking with the annoyances of their existing hardware, and that’s totally fine.

If it seems like I've gone a little looney over Nvidia's A.I. Upscaling capabilities, you'll have to forgive me, but this is a game-changer. Seriously. This feature gives us a tantalizing taste to the future of home video, and makes watching non-4K streaming video so much more of a pleasurable experience, especially if you're watching on a larger screen.

For its speedy performance, AI upscaling, well-designed remote, and lower price, the Nvidia Shield TV is one of the best media streamers you can buy. Its ability to stream games makes it even more attractive for gamers with GeForce-based rigs.

The 2019 Shield TV is immediately shooting up near the top of my recommendations list for those who want a top-notch streaming experience in their living room. At $149, it still hangs onto the best elements of the pricier Shield TV Pro — speed, flexibility, and that great new remote — and leaves power user features for the power user product. There’s definitely a feeling of sameness to the Pro model, and I doubt current Shield owners will be compelled to upgrade until Nvidia makes more meaningful hardware advancements. But for those new to Android TV, there’s no device better at showcasing it.

Only you can decide if you want to spend a bunch of dough on a streaming-oriented gaming box. But if you do decide to do so, the Nvidia Shield is, without question, the box to buy. The Nvidia Shield does stuff that no other product on the market does, and it does it well. This was true before 2017 (owners of the last-generation Shield do not need to upgrade, in my opinion). It remains true now. This box would dominate the streaming/gaming market even if it had reasonable competition, and it does not. The Nvidia Shield is king.

The Nvidia Shield TV combines powerful streaming and gaming features, but for most users it's not worth the high price.

At three times the cost of entry-level 4K HDR streaming players, the Nvidia Shield (2019) isn’t cheap, but it’s an incredibly powerful streaming player thanks to its cutting-edge AI upscaling tech and its support for both HDR10 and Dolby Vision content. Its Android TV operating system may be divisive, and its lack of a bundled controller is disappointing, but the Shield's visual performance is second-to-none in the streaming player category.

The original Nvidia Shield has long been the power user’s Android TV streaming box of choice, and realistically the only one I could recommend. But with its redesign as a hide-away tube and with a new, much more user-friendly and smartly designed remote, the new Shield TV is not only the best streaming box for power users, but one of the very best for regular people too – right up there with the Apple TV 4K and Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K.