I’ve been using Sideload Channel Launcher since they started putting ads on the home screen. It’s a simple clean layout that is easy to set up and get everything you want on it. It even has a icon you can add for power settings.
You can block ads on the NVIDIA shield launcher using Pihole of adguard DNS. Just need to go into settings for your wifi network on your shield, change dns1 and dns2, then reset the home app. It won’t be able to download new ads, so the banner on the home page will stay the default ad for several of Google’s own apps like play store and YouTube or whatever.
I too was not able to find a third party launcher that looked as nice as the original.
The Zidoo Z9X Pro, it’s about the same price and supports Dolby Vision and Atmos in Kodi (they have their own build called ZDMC) and is generally faster then the Shield (USB 3, SATA, 4 GB RAM, etc… ).
It doesn’t seem to support the DRM protected streaming apps that use Widevine though (Netflix and the like) since I can’t find them in the Google Play Store, which sucks, but I can just use the smart apps on my LG TV for that.
It seems that it’s really difficult to find a STB that supports everything these days and doesn’t come with shitty specs/is years old 😑
my TV responds to button presses on the remote in 10 seconds or less. That thing is like 3 years old, for a 1024 TV, you should probably aim for sub 8 second response time.
I’ve had an Nvidia Shield since they came out, about 6 months ago when I started seeing a car ad I was like “it’s time to switch to something else…”
Or just install a new launcher
I have yet to find one that isn’t lacking basic features like being about to put the device to sleep.
I’ve been using Sideload Channel Launcher since they started putting ads on the home screen. It’s a simple clean layout that is easy to set up and get everything you want on it. It even has a icon you can add for power settings.
You can block ads on the NVIDIA shield launcher using Pihole of adguard DNS. Just need to go into settings for your wifi network on your shield, change dns1 and dns2, then reset the home app. It won’t be able to download new ads, so the banner on the home page will stay the default ad for several of Google’s own apps like play store and YouTube or whatever.
I too was not able to find a third party launcher that looked as nice as the original.
There are other issues with it, so I just decided to ditch it completely. I mainly use it for Kodi.
What did you switch to?
My shield has always been laggy… I’d like to find a TV “OS” that can run apps and is actually fast.
The Zidoo Z9X Pro, it’s about the same price and supports Dolby Vision and Atmos in Kodi (they have their own build called ZDMC) and is generally faster then the Shield (USB 3, SATA, 4 GB RAM, etc… ).
It doesn’t seem to support the DRM protected streaming apps that use Widevine though (Netflix and the like) since I can’t find them in the Google Play Store, which sucks, but I can just use the smart apps on my LG TV for that.
It seems that it’s really difficult to find a STB that supports everything these days and doesn’t come with shitty specs/is years old 😑
Thanks. It seems like the Apple TV is the best option if you need DRM… 😥
I’ve heard good things about the Apple TV, it’s comparable to the Shield.
my TV responds to button presses on the remote in 10 seconds or less. That thing is like 3 years old, for a 1024 TV, you should probably aim for sub 8 second response time.