- A new Nvidia Shield Update brings 120 FPS GEFORCE NOW
- However, it is only at 1080p – 4K is only available on 60 fps
- Your TV will have to support 120Hz in favor
Nvidia rolls a new update to Shield TV with a major function upgrade as well as the usual bug fixes. The update is for Shield and Shield Pro Units, and the headline feature is the arrival of 120 FPS games at GeForce now for subscribers to GeForce Now Ultimate Membership.
The slightly less good news is that it is limited to 1080p, which means it is not a real competitor for 4K 120Hz games on the PS5 Pro – although there is a good reason for this limitation.
Why are 120fps games limited to 1080p?
The Short Answer: HDMI 2.0.
The shield has an HDMI 2.0 output, which means it has the bandwidth of full quality 4K at 60 fps, but not 120fps: until you need the higher bandwidth of HDMI 2.1, which has 48 Gbps compared to HDMI 2.0’s 18 Gbps.
You can adjust many PC video cards to force 120FPS over HDMI 2.0, but it’s really a hack: It involves reducing the amount of color information and adding re-testing so that the signal sent to 120 FPS is not as high quality as the non-tweaked 60FPS version. Obviously, Nvidia has chosen not to do this.
Although the update is welcome, it shows that the shield comes a little: It has similar hardware as the original Nintendo -Switch and is still running Android 11, and while it’s great that Nvidia continues to update it, it feels that it’s time for a new one – not least because it is facing more and more rivals.
Here are Nvidia’s release notes that describe what is fixed in this latest update.
- Corrects night mode that is skipped when DAP is on.
- Dolby Vision content Stutters when the frame match function is enabled.
- Return Match Content Solution while using a USB DAC.
- Adds the HQS / MAXRATE setting back to USB sound.
- USB TV TUNER FIX WITH LIVE CHANNEL APP.
- Detter playback problems in Plex when using AAC 5.1 sound.
- Loose connecting problems with third -party remote controls after sleep or reboot.
