The NVIDIA SHIELD TV received the ability to cast 4K YouTube videos in 60 frames per second through a new update for Google Cast Receiver, owners of the NVIDIA-made Android TV set-top box are reporting. In addition to that, the latest update ships with support for 5.1 Surround Sound, though the functionality is only available in certain apps like Google Play Movies, Plex, and Netflix. Regardless, the support for six-channel surround audio systems will likely be extended to more services in the near future.
The new functionalities were added to the NVIDIA SHIELD TV shortly after the device was updated with support for casting videos through Google Play Movies, and the Santa Clara, California-based tech giant will likely expand upon the recently introduced features in the coming months. Following the new update, the company even shared a service compatibility chart showing how its Android TV set-top box compares to its main competitors — Amazon’s Fire TV and the Roku Ultra — in terms of software and casting support. The chart that can be seen below indicates that the device is currently on top of its competitors in regards to casting compatibility and NVIDIA will likely be hard at work to maintain that lead in the future.
The U.S. tech giant appeared at this year’s Google I/O 2017 developer conference that started in Mountain View, California, on Wednesday, revealing that the SHIELD TV will be updated with Android O in the near future. Both the 2015 and 2017 variants of the NVIDIA-made Android TV set-top box should receive the next major iteration of Google’s ubiquitous operating system later this year, a company official suggested, without providing more details on the matter. A jump to Android O will ennoble compatible Android TVs with a redesigned user interface and a number of other features and improvements meant to enhance the end user experience, the Alphabet-owned company indicated earlier this week. As Google is adamant to keep expanding the Android ecosystem in the future, the firm is putting an increasingly larger focus on non-smartphone devices and Android TV is expected to be a major part of its efforts to grow the platform even further.