Update 2 (10/24/19 @ 3:25 PM ET):Â The official NVIDIA SHIELD account has tweeted the date "10.28.19," presumably the launch date for the new SHIELD TV stick.
Update 1 (10/24/19 @ 3:25 AM ET): The new NVIDIA SHIELD TV 4K streaming stick was apparently made available at Best Buy stores, much before launch, revealing a price tag of $149.99. Scroll to the bottom for more updates. The article as published on October 17, 2019, is preserved as below.
Today is officially NVIDIA SHEILD TV day. After the device codenamed "mdarcy" showed up earlier today, we're now getting a look at the device codenamed "sif." The SHIELD TV Pro that we saw earlier is an update to the traditional set-top box model. "Sif" is a much smaller streaming stick form factor with the same redesigned remote and it showed up on Newegg prematurely.
The size is the obvious big difference with the SHIELD TV streaming stick. It looks like a small flashlight with an Ethernet port on one end and HDMI and MicroSD on the other end. The listing says the device comes with 8GB of internal storage. The Newegg listing also says the streaming stick is powered by the NVIDIA Tegra Z1+ processor, but the listing later mentions the Tegra X1+ (which is in the new SHIELD TV Pro) several times. NVIDIA says it's 25% faster than previous generations, which leads us to believe "Z1+" was a mistake.
NVIDIA says the streaming stick has "Enhanced HD video in real-time to 4K" and it mentions the AI upscaling we saw in the SHIELD TV Pro listing. The streaming stick also appears to feature Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos like the set-top box. Essentially, you're getting the same features as the box, but with slightly fewer ports.
The streaming stick comes with the exact same remote that we saw before with the SHIELD TV Pro. There is a microphone for voice controls, motion-activated backlit buttons, an IR blaster for controlling TVs, Bluetooth, and a lost remote feature. It has buttons for power, menu, play, record, pause, forward, reverse, volume, voice commands, Netflix, and direction pad. The remote takes 2 AAA batteries.
The Newegg listing has the price for the streaming stick at $199, which is the same price Amazon had for the SHIELD TV Pro. While the two devices share a lot of specifications and features, it's a little strange to see a much smaller streaming stick for the same price as a full-fledged set-top box. It's possible that the pricing is simply a placeholder for now. We'll have to wait and see. What do you think of this smaller SHIELD TV device?
Via: Reddit
Update 1: NVIDIA SHIELD TV 4K streaming stick briefly available at Best Buy for $149.99
The NVIDIA SHIELD TV 4K streaming stick is yet to be officially unveiled, but certain Best Buy locations in the US have already received stock of the same. Customers have spotted the new streaming stick on the shelves, with a price tag of $149.99, which appears to be the final retail pricing of the product.
We can expect the product to be made official very soon. Meanwhile, you can try your luck by walking into a Best Buy near you.
Source: /r/ShieldAndroidTV, AVS Forums
Story Via: Liliputing
Update 2: October 28th launch
The NVIDIA SHIELD Twitter account shared a tweet that simply says "10.28.19" with an eye emoji. The tweet also includes a cryptic eye-like animation. With all the recent leaks and devices actually showing up in stores, it seems pretty safe to say this is the SHIELD TV stick's launch date.