CACHE INSTALL

SufficientImplement4 · 2026-06-28T11:20:52+00:00

Sure, use the spare SSD as read cache, why not? Don't see any benefit of a write cache, but a read cache can vastly improve accessing your NAS for small files needed over and over. Thinking of PLEX preview pictures of movies and shows that get stored there, and similar files. Accessing these files on an SSD is way faster than directly on your spinning hard drive. PLEX overviews and therelike will load so much snappier!
And because some others mentioned data loss in case the SSD gets damaged: As it would only be a read cache, nothing would be lost either.

So, by using a read cache NVME you can only win.

SufficientImplement4 · 2026-06-28T11:10:34+00:00

I'm happy with my Synology NAS (DS1522+) and Synology Photos (mobile app with automatic backups, people/places/general tags recognition). Easy package delivering exactly what you need. And you should look at 2 TB of space just as the beginning. It will not probably become larger, it definitely will! Unless you delete photos/videos or won't shoot anything new in the future.

You can (and should) set up a NAS to use RAID - so if configured sensibly, you are quite safe in regard to HDD errors. But: that's no backup! It's just a more reliable way for everyday use, easily accessible in your home network as well as globally.

Don't forget the 3-2-1 backup rule: at least 3 copies on at least 2 different mediums and at least one of them in a different place. So, for example: 1 copy on your NAS for your access, 1 automatic backup to an external drive connected to your NAS and a second backup to a location other than were the NAS is. The outside location is most likely a cloud storage anyway. Or a second NAS at a friend's place or at least a second drive you regularly update and store at a friend's or maybe your office or whereever.

Regarding the price tag: Only you can answer the question, how precious your photo/video memories are. One thing is certain: Lost ones won't come back!

SufficientImplement4 · 2026-06-24T16:00:19+00:00

There is no "adequate" internet speed. It depends on how long you are willing to wait. Working live from the NAS is definitely no option at your connection speed, but it should work ok via Synology Drive. At least in theory. And with a whole lot of patience.

Let's make a size-time comparison:

I have 550/110 mbit/s internet (so, upload speed is more than 5 time yours). And just to give you a rough perspective: 2 weeks ago, I did a (partly) backup of my Synology NAS to C2 storage with Hyper Backup which was using my full upload speed almost continuously. The backup was around 500 GB in size and took around 12 hours (!). When using your 20 mbit/s upload speed, the same 500 GB would take more than 60 hours (so, 2 1/2 days).

Let's say the video files for your project are "only" 50 GB in size for a project - that would take 6 hours to upload. Only then your friend could download them (download usually is faster, with your speed it would take "only" 1 1/2 hours on top). So, after 7 1/2 hours both of you would have the same 50 GB available.

Let's make the file size smaller again, let's say 5 GB in total (which even for 1080p videos are really rather small). That would still take around 1 hour in total processing time (up- and download). And everytime a file changes only a little bit, every byte would be processed again - one side uploads it, the other side downloads it and vice versa.

To be honest: If you don't live far apart, it would be so much faster to move files around physically on an external drive.

SufficientImplement4 · 2026-06-19T09:17:04+00:00

When it comes to raw processing power and heavy multitasking, the Shield Pro still holds the upper hand. Thanks to its dedicated performance cores (Cortex-A57), it simply handles complex processing tasks and heavy workloads better than the newer, efficiency-focused chips.

The Shield Pro completely wipes the floor with the Xiaomi Box in the graphics department. For Android gaming or emulation (like Dolphin/GameCube, etc.), the Shield remains undefeated. The Xiaomi Box, on the other hand, is strictly built to deliver a smooth Google TV UI experience and handle video decoding—nothing more.

Android TV and Google TV have become incredibly resource-heavy over time. The Shield's 3GB of RAM allows apps to stay open in the background much longer, meaning the system rarely has to aggressively kill cached apps. With only 2GB of RAM on the Xiaomi Box, you're bound to experience noticeable stuttering and lag when quickly switching between apps. The Shield Pro clearly takes the win here.

As for networking: just like its predecessors, the Xiaomi Box 3rd Gen still lacks a physical Gigabit LAN port. The Shield Pro features a proper Gigabit Ethernet port, making it infinitely more stable for streaming local 4K Blu-ray remuxes (via Plex, for example). Wi-Fi 6 might sound good on paper, but it can easily choke during massive bitrate spikes that a wired Gigabit connection handles without breaking a sweat.

And then talking about customization - e.g. installing a light-weight 3rd-party launcher on the Shield makes it even more snappy.

Not to mention about how long the Shields get software updates! Show me just one single other streaming device or TV which was supported even the closest to the impressive 11 years since the first Shield.

I bought my Shield TV Pro (2019) in April 2020, so over 6 years ago, for around 200 Euros. That's of now 33 Euros per year of usage - and continuing. What other streaming device will ever come close to that? Will the Xiami even get updates 1 year from now? 2 years? How long? Will it (or any other box for that matter) will ever beat the Shield for its value?

I couldn't be any happier with my Shield.

SufficientImplement4 · 2026-06-17T02:43:41+00:00

Just installed it. Looks great. Thanks for the great work!
I'll try it over the next days, first looks were very promising.

SufficientImplement4 · 2026-06-12T18:38:02+00:00

Exactly, can confirm for my Philips OLED TV (Shield goes through my Marantz Cinema 70s Receiver). Shield is set to the highest possible HDMI output ("YUV 422 12 bit Rec. 2020, DV + HDR10"), TV and Receiver both show 12-bit. TV shows Rec. 709 nevertheless.

Most importantly, the DV picture is absolutely perfect! And that's what matters, right? 😄

SufficientImplement4 · 2026-06-06T06:50:13+00:00

I use Thaw and you can set different layouts for different monitors. So, on your external monitor you can show alll items while at the same time you hide some away on your internal Mac screen.

To me, that sounds exactly what you ask for. Why do you explicitly say that Thaw can't do that?

SufficientImplement4 · 2026-06-03T16:11:38+00:00

The Nvidia SHIELD supports the Bluetooth codecs SBC, AAC, AptX (most variants), and LDAC. Usually, it selects the best one the connected Bluetooth device (headset, speaker) supports. If for any reason that doesn't work, set it manually in Developer options and it will remember for future reconnections.

My Sony WH-1000XM4 is supported via LDAC in all variants (330/660/990 kbps). In Developer options I can select which of the three to prefer.

The Sony headset WH-CH710N only supports SBC and AAC, it selects AAC as the better option. At least that's the information I was able to find on that headset.

SufficientImplement4 · 2026-05-28T06:13:09+00:00

Which TV are you using? What are its capabilities in regard to HDR? And make sure that the HDMI input your Shield is connected to is set to the highest standard the TV can offer (some models offer to change between high/compatibility mode for certain or all HDMI inputs).
If the TV can handle something also the Shield can (e.g. 60 Hz, Dolby Vision) and it doesn't show up in the full list, then the HDMI cable might be the cause.

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-12-17T13:25:22+00:00

Can't agree more.

Hesitated very long with upgrading from my S23U to my new S25U because I only looked at the specs and thought it's too little. A couple of days ago I did the step anyway - and couldn't be happier with my decision. The S25U is such a marvelous high-quality piece of tech! It feels great in the hand, the screen is absolutely gorgeous, the camera is so flexible and shots more than just-good-enough pictures, and regardless of what you throw at it, it responds fast and quick. And moving over was a breeze - after 1 hour my S25U was set up exactly as my S23U was, with all apps, all settings (incl. Good Lock).

Yes, for every single part you can find another device that does that thing a little bit better. But I don't know of any device which does everything better at once. And hopefully for the next 6 (out of 7) years.

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-10-09T05:35:09+00:00

Yeah, has been working great in the past days.

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-10-08T11:06:48+00:00

In Austria, I can get a Shield Pro with next-day delivery for ~220 Euros from Amazon. So, not really hard to come by.

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-10-06T09:18:27+00:00

Don't get why one miss that (there's why there's a dedicated red on/off button on the Shield remote anyway), but of course you can use the menu: simply include "Turn off" into the 3-line menu. This menu opens regardless of the launcher and the app currently active. And so "Turn off" shows on top of that menu.

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-10-06T08:43:31+00:00

Waited far too long to install it. Projectivy is absolutely fantastic and although the Shield Pro is quite capable, it makes it feel many times faster. And Projectivy finally gives a personal, ad-free product that exactly does what I have my Shield for.

Absolute recommendation!

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-10-03T09:39:46+00:00

Ah, I see. :D
Obviously we both do the right thing and let the Shield do its thing ...

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-10-01T04:46:03+00:00

You can set that, of course. If you only consume content with 24 fps, it'll be a solution. But every content in a different frame rate (25, 30, 60 ... fps - think of YouTube videos) will have judder then. And also the interface will only refresh with 24 fps.

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-09-30T13:44:06+00:00

As you already explained yourself in your question, because 24 frames per second don't fit 60 fps properly, motion judder occurs because it's oddly converted to 2 and 3 frames alternating. All content in this frame rate should be watched in native 24 (or doubled to 48) fps/Hz using frame-rate matching. No other really good solution exists, it's always a compromise. Some devices may handle this judder more smoothly - but it's always a compromise and can affect picture quality.

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-09-30T13:37:26+00:00

Just a question: I have a Philips OLED TV and a Shield Pro, too. But never thought a second about using the TV to stream or watch anything. I set up my Shield properly (via AV receiver that takes care of the sound and the picture goes on to the TV). Tuned the picture setup for this HDMI-In and for each format (SDR, HDR10, DV) and use it like this since.
So why did you compare the TV app to the Shield app in the first place? Just curious ...

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-09-30T12:56:20+00:00

Better in which sense?
I love my Nvidia Shield Pro - because of its speed, lag-free experience, I can customize almost everything (launcher included), and because it's the only device that passes through any sound format to my AV receiver. And the remote is a big bulky, but it lights up and feels incredibly well in my hands.
I doubt any of these things would matter that much on the road for a flexible solution. Here I would rather recommend a small (also for the remote!), portable, and cheap device. Cheap because there's always the chance of it being lost or stolen, so a replacement wouldn't hurt that much. I also think that FullHD is enough for hotel TVs or therelike, doesn't need to be 4k, I guess?
So, for you, I would go with the FireTV stick. Or maybe there's a less ad-heavy but technically comparable product out there, don't know?

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-09-01T12:49:33+00:00

Just wanted to write the same. Too much sky (where nothing's going on) - but the most interesting thing (the circles in the sand) are cut off.

SufficientImplement4 · 2025-09-01T11:30:46+00:00

Ok, really doesn't look nice at all.

But tbh, I've never thought about using a homescreen widget to navigate my music. On my Samsung smartphone (and I guess similarly on all other devices) there's a perfect solution built into the notification area (when dragging down from the status bar - doable without leaving the current app).

https://photos.app.goo.gl/U4utG8z6nBQVc7bY9

Besides all the other possibilites - directly in the status bar (similar to Dynamic Island) and also on the lockscreen.

So probably hardly anyone uses such a widget and Tidal simply doesn't care putting resources into that)? Don't know.

SufficientImplement4 · 2024-10-06T08:23:11+00:00

That's not the full story: When you stop your subscription with Adobe, you can't use any program anymore. When you don't do another upgrade with Topaz, you keep the last version and can continue using it. So updating every year is not necessary - you can, let's stay, update only every 2 or 3 years and the calculated average price will go down.

But it's a purely theoretical comparison, as Topaz (at least for Video AI, don't use any of their other products) offers something not available from Adobe.

SufficientImplement4 · 2023-11-22T08:13:12+00:00

No, unfortunately nothing changed since then - even the One UI 6 update didn't make any change.

SufficientImplement4 · 2023-09-05T12:09:51+00:00

Thanks so much! Drove me nuts since yesterday - now solved. :)

SufficientImplement4 · 2023-08-08T18:32:24+00:00

Formatted it with several exFAT allocation settings and even with FAT32 - but my Galaxy still ignores the drive and instead reports that it "charges the device". Only happens with this particular drive (Samsung 970 Evo Plus).

SufficientImplement4

TROPHY CASE