So, the price of the hardware is not an indication whether the device will have ads or not later down the line? Even if you spent your money on the top of the line models it’ll eventually got ads if it’s running Google TV OS?
Correct. GoogleTV is completely owned by Google. Nvidia has no say in what google pushes to the platform. If you don’t want Ads… stay away from google/android TV.
I own 3 shields (pre-ad-gate purchases). I was a huge advocate for it. It was a great device that did everything I wanted a tv console to do. I would not buy a new one. And will not buy a shield 2 if it has the same OS on it.
The best you can do is stop the upgrades… or use a custom launcher. But the OS itself is going to find a way to get ads because that’s what google programmed it to do.
It’s actually in Google’s best interest to do this anyway. Nvidia likely didn’t pay google anything to have the OS on the device. This is google’s way of extracting money out of you in this process.
I’m pretty sure OEMs pay Google for including Play Store in their device, and they still decided to show ads. My Chromecast with Google TV shows no ads at the moment, not sure if it’s due to using Adguard in my home network or if Google simply hasn’t roll out ads in my country yet.
Nvidia didn’t push the ads. Nvidia got their pound. Google is pushing the ads onto the shield.
So, the price of the hardware is not an indication whether the device will have ads or not later down the line? Even if you spent your money on the top of the line models it’ll eventually got ads if it’s running Google TV OS?
Correct. GoogleTV is completely owned by Google. Nvidia has no say in what google pushes to the platform. If you don’t want Ads… stay away from google/android TV.
I own 3 shields (pre-ad-gate purchases). I was a huge advocate for it. It was a great device that did everything I wanted a tv console to do. I would not buy a new one. And will not buy a shield 2 if it has the same OS on it.
The best you can do is stop the upgrades… or use a custom launcher. But the OS itself is going to find a way to get ads because that’s what google programmed it to do.
It’s actually in Google’s best interest to do this anyway. Nvidia likely didn’t pay google anything to have the OS on the device. This is google’s way of extracting money out of you in this process.
I’m pretty sure OEMs pay Google for including Play Store in their device, and they still decided to show ads. My Chromecast with Google TV shows no ads at the moment, not sure if it’s due to using Adguard in my home network or if Google simply hasn’t roll out ads in my country yet.
https://www.alphr.com/google/1010053/google-introduces-licensing-costs-for-android-manufacturers/
That started in 2018. The Nvidia Shield is an older product than that contract/requirement. And may not even apply to non EU devices/contracts.