NVIDIA SHIELD TV 8.0.1 Upgrade Now Rolling Out To Help With 4K Streaming Issue [Updated]

NVIDIA software experience upgrade 8.0.1 is now rolling out to SHIELD TV devices with the update paving the way to fix a known 4K issue.

This is a minor update compared to the previous software upgrade 8.0 (the Android 9 Pie upgrade), however, it appears to fix a number of issues SHIELD owners might be encountering.

SHIELD software upgrade 8.0.1 has already started rolling out to NVIDIA’s Android TV device.

SHIELD update prepares the way for 4K streaming fix

NVIDIA does not seem to be claiming this update will fix the recent 4K streaming issue. Instead, NVIDIA states this is “a big step towards” fixing the issue. With NVIDIA adding, the expectation is “most apps will resume 4K soon via upcoming server-side updates.”

For those unfamiliar with the issue, last month it became clear some video apps were encountering a problem playing 4K content on SHIELD. The issue did not affect all video services, but Vudu was one of the more higher profile apps affected.

In Vudu’s case specifically, the service opted to remove the option to allow 4K playback until the issue was fixed.

More than just the 4K streaming issue

Besides 4K streaming, it appears a number of SHIELD users encountered other issues when applying the 8.0 upgrade. As a result, this update does come with a number of other fixes.

For example, there’s a variety of system fixes including general video playback and volume issues. On the volume point, the changelog also lists a redesigned “volume UI for Android P.”

There’s also fixes for the display, storage, accessories and network. The network fixes include an improvement for those suffering from “4K streaming issues when network connected over Wi-Fi.”

For those that might have been encountering an issue with the Google Play Store crashing on SHIELD, it looks like this update is intended to fix that problem as well.

Some of the currently still known issues, including app icons appearing zoomed or cropped, a Netflix stuttering issue, and failure to update the 2015 Controller firmware. In other words, users experiencing any of these known issues should not expect this update to fix them.

As mentioned, NVIDIA has confirmed software upgrade 8.0.1 is already en route to SHIELD Android TV devices. In fact, it should be available and ready to download the next time a SHIELD is turned on.

In the meantime, the full list of included fixes and known issues with software upgrade 8.0.1 can be viewed here.

Update 10/7: Vudu has since rolled out an app update which limits playback to SD on NVIDIA SHIELD TV. This was apparently a reduction Vudu was supposed to implement when the issue first surfaced. More details on the Vudu SD app update can be found here.