When comparing NVIDIA SHIELD Console vs Amazon Fire TV, the Slant community recommends NVIDIA SHIELD Console for most people. In the question“What are the best Android gaming devices that have proprietary game controllers?” NVIDIA SHIELD Console is ranked 1st while Amazon Fire TV is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose NVIDIA SHIELD Console is:
Kodi media center is now available on the Play Store for Android TV devices which is very convenient since the old method of installing the app was to sideload, which can be difficult for new users.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Kodi is installable from the Play Store
Kodi media center is now available on the Play Store for Android TV devices which is very convenient since the old method of installing the app was to sideload, which can be difficult for new users.
Pro 50 curated games at launch
There will be 50 curated games at launch of the device including the likes of Borderlands and Crysis.
Pro NVIDIA Tegra X1
The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet has an NVIDIA Tegra X1 processor, which is reported as having twice the performance of an XBox 360.
Pro Voice search
There is a dedicated voice search button on the remote so you can quickly bring up the voice search prompt from any app that works fast and accurately.
Pro Has support for tons of media service integrations
The Fire TV has support of the following of services: Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, ESPN, Pandora, Showtime, MLB, iHeart Radio, Vevo, Vimeo, Crackle, Bloomberg, Twitch, NBA, Amazon Music, Plex, YouTube, Tune In, Flixster, Quello, AOL on, WWE, HuffPost Live, Frequency, Red Bull TV, and Smithsonian Channel.
Pro Has a simplified kids mode
There is a mode called "freetime" that lets you whitelist specific apps and set watch time limits for kids, or for a simplified interface with only certain apps.
Pro Most powerful set top box
Even though it's only $99, it's far more powerful than its competitors, with a quad core processor and 2GB of ram, and that power really shows in the fluidity of the UI.
Pro Bluetooth Remote
The Fire TV remote doesn't require line of sight, and has a microphone for voice search, thanks to bluetooth support.
Cons
Con Can only have 2 USB hard drives
There are only two USB ports built into the device, which limits how many hard drives one can hook up, but the kicker is, even when using a USB hub the device will still only read two USB devices hard drives at a time, no matter how many are plugged into the USB hub.
Con Only capapable of low end gaming
Even the demos of the games shown at the unveiling shows that any type of console quality game is going to be too taxing for the system, all running at only 30fps. Adding to that, the majority of console ports for the system are years old which shows that it is pretty obvious how limiting the system will be.
Con Lots of Amazon advertisement
The Fire TV prefers Amazon services, and is tailored to purchasing shows and movies through Amazon. The voice search does not clearly expose if it's already available on a non amazon service.
Con Inconsistent UI between apps
Each app has a unique UI making it harder to jump between each app, and requires you to learn a slightly different UI for every app.