- A new Nvidia Shield update offers a 120 fps geforce support now
- However, it is only at 1080p – 4K is available only at 60 fps
- Your TV must admit 120Hz to benefit
Nvidia is implementing a new update for the Shield TV with a large update of functions, as well as the regular errors corrections. The update is for the units of Shield and Shield Pro, and the main function is the arrival of 120 FPS of Game in Geforce now for the subscribers of the GeForce Now Ultimate membership.
The news a little less good is that it is limited to 1080p, which means that it is not a real competitor to the 4k 120Hz games in the PS5 Pro, although there is a good reason for this restriction.
Why are 120 fps gaming at 1080p limited?
The short answer: HDMI 2.0.
The shield has an HDMI 2.0 output, and that means that it has the bandwidth for 4K of full quality at 60 fps but no 120 fps: for that you need the highest HDMI bandwidth 2.1, which has 48 Gbps compared to HDMI 2.0’s 18GBPS.
You can adjust many PC video cards to force 120 fps through HDMI 2.0, but doing so is really a trick: it implies reducing the amount of color information and adding subsample, so the signal that is sent to 120 fps is not as high as the 60fps version without touch. Clearly, Nvidia has chosen not to do that here.
Although the update is welcome, it shows that the shield is becoming a bit: it has a hardware similar to the original Nintendo Switch and is still executing Android 11, and although it is great that Nvidia updates it, it does feel that it is time for a new one, no less important because it faces more rivals.
Here are the NVIDIA launch notes that detail what has been solved in this last update.
- Night mode is corrected when DAP is on.
- The Dolby Vision Content Ttutters is corrected when the matching coincidence function is enabled.
- The coincidence content audio resolution is corrected while using a USB DAC.
- Add the HQS / MAXRATE option for USB audio.
- USB TV tuner correction with live channel application.
- The reproduction problems in Plex are corrected when AAC 5.1 audio is used.
- The connection problems with third -party remote after sleep or restart are corrected.
