New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….
Original story (published on January 17, 2022) follows:
Recently, NVIDIA Shield TV devices started receiving an update to Android 11. It brought a host of new features and improvements, even to the older models.
However, it seems that the first rollout of the update is not going as well as the company expected. According to multiple reports, many users are facing issues after updating (1, 2, 3, 4).
Among the issues that Android 11 brought to NVIDIA Shield TV devices are Plex server disabled, multiple apps not working properly, and broken Android TV-Home Assistant integration/CEC feature.
NVIDIA Shield TV Plex and other apps broken on Android 11
The Android 11 update for NVIDIA Shield TV has caused the disappearance of the Plex server for many. Now, the app settings page is blank for affected users.
In some cases, users can still use the Plex server, but lose features like HDR10. This causes the image quality of the content to deteriorate.
So just got the shield experience 9 upgrade and my plex media server has ‘vanished’
When I go into the plex app settings page the section for the plex server is blank (no options for starting or stopping the server or the storage setting)
Have tried multiple restarts and open to suggestions. Source
Plex is not the only service affected. According to reports, there are other apps that are not working properly on NVIDIA Shield TV after Android 11 update.
Currently, the Plex team is already aware of the problem. The company asks users for more feedback to investigate the situation more thoroughly.
The possible cause of the issue, potential workaround
Apparently, the problem is in the new permissions system of Android 11. It does not allow apps to access the ‘Android/data’ folder without authorization. Many Android TV apps are not adapted to the new system.
Having said the above, there is a potential workaround that could help resolve the issue. The process is explained below:
Android TV-Home Assistant integration and CEC also broken
The update to Android 11 also reportedly broke the integration between Android TV and Home Assistant. And, the CEC feature stopped working properly.
At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be a workaround to help mitigate or resolve these latest issues. So, affected users can only wait for official pronouncements in this regard.
If you use ShieldTV with home assistant integration, there’s a new update today to Android 11, which according to the developer docs does not work with HA (and has not worked for months, so not sure if/when it will be fixed).
Just something to be cautious of, since I don’t know how easy, or if at all possible, it is to downgrade. Source
Once new developments related to all the issues described arise, we will update this article. In the meantime, you can check the bug/issues tracker dedicated to the NVIDIA Shield TV.
Update 1 (January 17)
10:44 am (IST): Now it seems that the issue with NVIDIA Shield TV we have mentioned earlier are not the only ones. Users are reporting several kinds of bugs after upgrading to Android 11.
Users report that when watching a show the screen randomly goes black, while audio works as expected. Moreover, some also reported that the frame rate is broken after the update.
Additionally, users are facing various other issues such as an issue where they can’t see any previous files and folders.
Some also report that the Bluetooth gets disconnected when the device goes to sleep. Another issue after the Android 11 update is where Shield is waking up randomly.
Moreover, some users say that they can shut off tv and Shield with remote but the remote only turns on the shield and not the TV. Also, they aren’t able to create new Network mapped Folders on Shield and are also bothered by network mapping issue.
Update 2 (January 18)
11:49 am (IST): Users have been facing various kinds of issues with Nvidia Shield TV after the latest update. And now, Nvidia have listed all the known issues and the user reported bugs. You can check them in our dedicated tracker (@ Update 33).
Update 3 (January 19)
12:07 pm (IST): Nivida has offered an update to address the known issues with SHIELD Experience Upgrade 9.0+ HotFix Image. So, you can try and download it and see if it resolves the ongoing issues.
Update 4 (January 21)
05:44 pm (IST): Nvidia is now rolling out a second hotfix update identified with version 33.1.0.264 to encounter the issues that popped up after the recent update.
Here’s the complete changelog of the update:
Update 5 (February 17)
01:06 pm (IST): The first Shield TV 9.0.1 hotfix has been released for Shield TV users and Nvidia claims that this update should fix most of the random crashing issues. Moreover, it also fixes the HDMI CEC issue.
Update 6 (April 14)
12:25 am (IST): The latest Nvidia Shield 9.0.2 update is available for Shield TV users and it includes a bunch of bug fixes.
It brings a fix for the issue where Bluetooth gets disconnected when the device goes to sleep and also improves file transfer speed.
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