A comparison: H6 Pro vs Nividia Shield TV 2017 (16 GB)

Discussion in 'ZIDOO H6 Pro' started by kaneda79, Feb 19, 2018.

  1. kaneda79

    kaneda79 Member

    Some of you know I was an H6 Pro owner until one week ago, when a WiFi Problem convinced me to return it to Amazon after one month of usage. At the same time i decided to buy a Nvidia shield TV, 2017 version with 16 GB Rom and 3GB Ram. I used it for five days, not so much but enough to find clear differences between the two products and appreciate minuses and pluses for both the solution (yes, there are things that i think are better on H6 Pro).

    Hardware:

    • Connections: Zidoo H6 Pro has more connection ports then Nvidia Shield. The Nvidia Shield has 2x USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI and nothing more. Zidoo H6 Pro 1x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 2.0. H6 Pro has also a microSD card reader, AV out, Optical Audio and HDMI obviously.
    • Wireless: Both claim Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2,4 / 5 GHz) and Bluetooth 4.1. about WiFi i cannot ensure Zidoo H6 Pro is like that, cause WiFi was faulty on my unit.
    • CPU & GPU: It's an easy win for Nvidia Shield that mounts a NVIDIA Tegra X1 ( 4 core cortex-A53 + 4 core cortex-A57) with a 256 core GPU Maxwell. ZidooH6 Pro SoC Allwinner H6 has half the cores (4 core Cortex-A53), but i hasn't to manage cloud gaming. whatever the best performances of Tegra are good even for playback functions (i.e. Plex Server, not only player).
    • ROM & RAM: both TV boxes have 16GB Rom upgradable via USB (or via microSD in the case of H6 Pro); RAM is 3GB for Shield TV and 2GB for H6 PRO. I have to admit that 2GB is more then enough for the Zidoo Box, that has no cloud gaming to manage, and I have never experienced slowdown in playback with Kodi, Netflix or internal player after a proper setup of the Zidoo box.
    • Appearance: It's matter of tastes and the two tv boxes are pretty different in shapes and colours. I think both of them are beautiful in a different manner. so let's say they're even
    • Remote control: both Shield TV and H6 Pro comes with a remote control using bluetooth and IR. i find Zidoo remote more reliable, it never disconnected from the box, while the Shield remote disconnects every now and then. It means: "use another way to go to settings and pair again the shield remote"; that's really annoying. On the other hand the shield remote as much more functions, less buttonsand a touch sensitive surface to slide volume up and down an to control the play and pause functions of the playback (no matter the app). The Shield remote has a builtin microphone to command the TV box through the voice. H6 Pro remote is pure plastic but solid; Shield remote is plastic and aluminium: both look good, shield remote has more premium look. Finally Shield Remote can control the power on and power off of both my TV and soundbar while i put to sleep the Shield TV, as well as change directly the volume of the soundbar. Zidoo claims CEC control but i wasn't able to find the option, whatever the function was not so deep as the one offered by Nvidia: Since I have Shield i am using one remote; with Zidoo i was using Three. in few words Zidoo controller is more reliable, but Shield controller has more features and looks better. Nvidia wins.
    Software:
    • User Interface: Nvidia Shield is based on android 7.0, delivered through the Leanback UI, the default Android TV user interface. Zidoo is pure android 7.0, customized, and delivered through the Zidoo Taurus UI. Well, i don't like them, not Leanback not Zidoo Taurus: they are easy to navigate with remote control but their lack of customization is irritating! H6 Pro gives the possibility to switch to a third party UI app, Nvidia Shield not cause there is no option to force the home to another app. And Leanback UI is even more annoying cause if a non android TV app is installed i don't see it in the home screen (there is no app drawer). To see non android TV app is needed an application named "Sideload launcher". Leanback UI looks more beautiful because of the resolutions of the objects, but Zidoo wins the UI battle, because gives choice to the user to change the default UI application.
    • Playback: Zidoo has a good internal player, it's reliable, well done and rich in functions. The contents navigation is ugly but effective. Playback on third party apps, like Kodi, is not always good like the internal player, but fine tuning the box and the apps helps to solve the problems partially or totally. Nvidia Shield has no internal player, no file manager and is dificult to find a file manager optimized for android TV. The good thing is that Third Party apps works very, very and let mesay VERY well. I admit it was more simple to install kodi addons on Zidoo then on Nvidia Shield, but in the end Kodi rocks on Shield TV. Plus Shield TV works well with plex, enabling not only the plex player, but also the server side of Plex; it means plex transcode and send video and music to other devices through the internet. Is not powerful like a dedicate server, but it works. Playback on Nvidia is much better and works fine out of the box, but there is no native player and no native file manager.
    • Netflix[updated. Thanks to @leonkoum ]: I've to dedicate a special paragraph to the king of online streaming, even if short. Everybody having a Zidoo H6 Pro knows it implements DRM that enable FHD Netflix Playback. Nvidia Shield let Netflix works to the max resolution possible (4k) out of the box. It's a win for the Shield TV.
    • on screen Keyboard: ok this would look a strange comparison for someone, but i think is important to know that on Nvidia Shield there is a special on screen keyboard named "leanback keyboard" after the UI name. Well, when i started my Shield TV i had odd options in front of me: Russian/ Czeck keyboard, chinese and other far east languages. I didn't find Italian (my language) or english. I unistalled or disabled all the other options, found "leanback italian keyboard" on the play store, but it didn't work. Zidoo with his android 7 non TV Operating System, gave me the possibility to use the keyboards i needed. So, few Keyboard options on Nvidia Shield, much more on Zidoo H6 pro.
    • Firmware: Much more stable on Nvidia Shield.

    This is all for now, when i have time to try and write something else i'll update the comparison. If you have some special question, please let me know. Even if i don't have H6 Pro anymore, with your help we can make this comparison better!
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2018
    sfanetti and JJKK like this.
  2. Simon Wheway

    Simon Wheway New Member Beta test group

    Great article thanks. My main problem with the zidoo is lip sync being out by miles on some videos when using kodi for files on my pc (via Smb share) and also on amazon prime.
     
    kaneda79 likes this.
  3. leonkoum

    leonkoum Active Member Beta test group

    Thanks for your article..
    Ziddo H6 with fw v1.0.20 can easily hit 1080p in NETFLIX ;)
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    mjf1985 and kaneda79 like this.
  4. wooolf

    wooolf Active Member

    Thanks Kaneda great effort, much appreciated :)
    Shield sounds better to me because I am getting fed up with crashes for no reasons and with my BT external keyboard working sometimes and sometimes not.
    Did you try an external BT keyboard on shield? is it stable and reliable?
     
    kaneda79 likes this.
  5. kaneda79

    kaneda79 Member

    @Simon Wheway by any chance do you use a sound bar? I had the same issue, in my case due to the fact that I had to disable the auto frame rate switch function both in the box settings and in Kodi (flickering problems with some refresh rate not compatible with my tv). After that I had sound issues, so I had to disable Audio passthrough to solve the problem (the option is present innkod as well, in expert audio settings). Another possibility is the PCM audio delay function. In some TV (I have a basic Samsung TV , so I think is possible to find it in every TV) you can find it under sound options and you can set the delay to match the video. Well I am not an expert but I think these are the option you can try to set up to solve the problem.

    @leonkoum you are the first I hear with 1080p playback, I'll modify my review even in amazon. Thanks a lot for the Information ;)

    @wooolf : yes my bt keyboard worksw it's the same Rapoo e6700 I was using with H6 pro. The only problem is that I cannot switch the layout to italian, so I have to remember the us keyboard layout to digit special characters end punctuation.

    Now that you mention it, it comes to my mind that the problem I wrote about the shield remote disconnecting could be due to the usage in combination with the keyboard. Even When using h6 pro I suffered some problems with it's remote after using the keyboard. I'll go further to exclude or confirm the issue
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2018
  6. JJKK

    JJKK Member Beta test group

    I have an X9S and H6 Pro. Coincidently, just yesterday I was researching and thinking about ordering the Nvidia Shield.
    I know you only have the Shield for a day or two and wondering if you feel it is worth the difference in price.
     
  7. kaneda79

    kaneda79 Member

    @JJKK in Italy the price of the shield TV 16 GB with only remote control is 199 euros, that is double the price of the H6 pro (99 euros)... We have a lot of taxes :(
    anyway for me the price of the shield TV is too much because I don't use All the features.
    It is worth the entire price, just speaking about features, if you buy it to play cloud games too. I gave it a try using my pc as a streamer and playing through the shield: it's funny but I don't see why I have to do it. I didn' try GeForce now play service yet. Whatever gaming is not the main purpose, so the value for many decreases a lot in my case.

    The value justify the price when it comes to RAM: 1 GB more is useful because I use Plex server (I added a 64gb usb 3.0 drive to make it work properly. 16 GB would be not enough for it and the other apps. It's an expense to have in mind if you don't have an unused drive).
    Performances and stability are worth the money too: no pain to configure the Nvidia shield TV, that works out of the box; good integration with my cheap Samsung TV and Samsung soundbar; no flickering, smoothness in every aspect from the playback to the UI navigation.
    The third thing is support, but is something that hopefully works, cause you never know until there are problems. A new firmware was released one month ago and, with my pleasure, on the official community forum is participating an android TV developer too, with a sticky thread dedicated to the requests of the users directly to Google. It's promising that Google shows to be interested on shield TV users feedback.

    In few words: 200 euros is a lot, but the product has value and features justifying the price. What's more is the only real android TV out there: you buy it, you connect it and you use it without pain. Support looks effective but is perceived by the importance of the brand (that is a mirage, you never know until you need it). Another interesting fact is that shield is supported by third party developers: root it and customize it the way you want.

    Finally let me spend my two cents on H6 pro too: if Zidoo starts to develope a more stabil firmware and to provide a consistent UI navigation experience it's value for money is much better then Nvidia Shield TV. Well this is true if someone is not interested in gaming and can renunce to a killer app like Plex server. H6 pro shows great potential in playback. What Zidoo developers need to understand is that the way to perfect the product is sometimes to do less things, sacrificing some options and let the ones remaining to work well.

    Android TV is not better because is more stabil. It's better because is capped, offers less options eliminating those ones potentially harmful for the user experience. Notwithstanding this I can do whatever I need, use whatever I want, but I had to renunce to something (a third party UI to use as a default UI when I power on the shield, but that I can install and use anyway).

    As always I wrote a lot I hope I gave you a useful opinion
     
  8. JJKK

    JJKK Member Beta test group

    Hello @kaneda79 , Thanks for the update. Yes, I agree the Shield is a bit pricey. $179. If you opt for the controller it's $199. Add shipping and customs and it $265. 2.5 times the price of the H6 Pro.
    If I buy one I would buy with the controller. I'm not a gamer, but I am sure my kids will enjoy gaming.

    What I want is a box that is pure Android and works. That is why I bought the Xiaomi A1 MI mobile phone. 4G RAM and 64G storage for $203. no bloat and fast. Probably the best phone I have ever owned.

    I know everyone claims Android does not need a lot or RAM, but I'm sure there is a reason that all these new mobile phone have 4 to 6G
    I like the idea that the shield has 3G. Nvidia would not have provided 3G unless something is coming down the road which will require the extra RAM.
    As of now, I am leaning towards buying one in the near future. I will let you know. Thanks again for your update.
     
  9. kaneda79

    kaneda79 Member

    @JJKK when i bought my last android smartphone i went for one with 4GB ram, because I intended to have it for 3 years at least. I have a 2GB tablet too, it works well but apps are growing in functions and need of resources. So the tablet has hard times while the smartphone not. If you don't have too much apps opened in background everything is fine: H6 Pro does well with his 2GB DDR4 generation Ram, anyway sometimes i felt the need to close some apps in background to run the foreground app smoothly. On Shield not, i forget there are apps in background. Plus more ram gives the possibility to run apps and have functions much more heavy (like plex server and geforce now).
    Notwithstanding this a good software implementation can give a good experience even on less ram devices... sadly it's easier to increase hardware specifications then develop a good software.
     
    JJKK likes this.
  10. JJKK

    JJKK Member Beta test group

    I'm glad the Shield is working out for you. Looks like I will be ordering one.
     
  11. wooolf

    wooolf Active Member

    sounds like the old Mac or PC debate, we have to choose from something fast and stable but expensive and restricted or something open but buggy...
     
    JJKK likes this.
  12. JJKK

    JJKK Member Beta test group

    Personally, I'm a Mac guy except for my Android phone and TV boxes.
    Everyone I talked to about the Shield said it just performs better. Plus, I'm sure my kids won't mind the gaming feature.
     
    kaneda79 likes this.
  13. kaneda79

    kaneda79 Member

    @JJKK well in that case Shield TV can be a good choice for you and your kids as well. Just mind to invest on the shield joypad too. I disndi buy, but I tried the PS3 dual shock gamepad and it doesn't work very good. I have to try the Xbox gamepad, pc version wired. Hopefully it works better
     
  14. JJKK

    JJKK Member Beta test group

    Yes, I plan on buying the unit with the controller for $199. Only $20 more when purchased together, but $50. more if purchased separately.
     
  15. Frank_David

    Frank_David New Member

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