It’s been a long time coming, but Nvidia’s terrific 4K streaming device, the Nvidia Shield TV, is currently gearing up to launch in Australia.
The device, which allows users to stream PC games at 4K resolution to your living room television (up to 60FPS), is considered one of the most powerful streaming video players on the planet, running on Nvidia’s own Tegra X1 processor (same one found in the Nintendo Switch) with a 256-core GPU and 3GB of RAM.
Along with its streaming prowess, it also packs Google Assistant integration, HDR support, Dolby Atmos and DTS-X pass-through, and runs on the Android TV platform, meaning you can download apps and games from the Google Play Store directly to the unit’s 16GB onboard storage.
Of course, that also means it can be used as a PLEX box, and boasting full support for a wide number of video formats and containers – including MKV, MOV, AVI, DivX and more – makes it an ideal option for Kodi streaming.
Tell him he’s streaming
Naturally, the Nvidia Shield TV also offers access to a wide range of streaming services, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, though we don’t yet know which Australian on-demand and catch services will be supported at launch.
While the Nvidia Shield has been officially announced for release in Australia, there are a number of details we’re yet to learn, such as when exactly it will go on sale and how much it will cost when it does.
Going by the device’s US price, which sits at US$179.99 for the ‘Remote Only’ edition and US$199.99 for the standard version with rumble feedback controller, we expect its Aussie prices to be around the $250-$270 range.
These questions and more will hopefully be answered at the Nvidia Shield TV local press event, which is being held in Sydney next week. Stay tuned for more information.
When Telstra announced its new simplified business strategy, dubbed “Telstra2022”, it was revealed that this would result in the cutting of over 8,000 employees and contractors as well as a drastic reduction in the number of plans the telco offers.
“We will simplify our products by retiring more than 1,800 plans and introducing 20 core plans”, Telstra announced in its statement regarding its consumer and small business customers.
While it isn’t explicitly mentioned, this appears to be in relation to the telco’s entire suite of services, ranging from mobile to broadband and NBN. While this will likely reduce the confusion that comes with choosing a new plan, it may push some existing customers into less-than-ideal compromises when the time comes to switch.
“Excess data charges are a thing of the past”
Another key alteration that Telstra detailed is “peace of mind data across a range of new post-paid plans”, which will see the telco following a similar route to Vodafone’s ‘unlimited’ plans, which offer a throttled download speed once a user has reached their data cap rather than slap them with excess data charges.
While this new cap-free data option is part of the Telstra2022 strategy, we won’t have to wait that long to see it in action. “Our customers will start to benefit from this simplified approach in July”, Telstra’s statement assures us.
Beyond this offer, “four more major product and service experiences will be progressively announced in the lead up to June 2019”, so we can expect some more competitive features from Telstra plans over the course of the next 12 months.
The times they are a changin’
The reduction of plan options and introduction of ‘peace of mind’ data plans are the most immediate changes that will affect your everyday Telstra customer, but this only comprises one of the Telstra2022 strategy’s core pillars.
The other pillars include forming a separate and standalone infrastructure business, with a new CEO leading the way for the future of copper and HFC cabling as well as data centres, exchanges and even subsea cabling.
Telstra’s entire employment structure will also experience a dramatic shift in order to “best serve the customer”, and this “agile” approach will result in the reduction of 8,000 roles, including executive and management positions.
This is far from excellent news for the employees and contractors that will have to look elsewhere for work, but Telstra has at least dedicated $5 million to helping the affected staff with their transition to a role in a new company.
High-dynamic range (HDR) gaming on PCs and HDR in general has never been more prevalent than today. However, there’s a clear dichotomy of pricing that’s creating a rift in the gaming monitor world.
On one side, there are FreeSync 2 HDR gaming monitors priced well below a grand. Meanwhile, Nvidia is going for the jugular by introducing its two first G-Sync HDR gaming monitors at an astronomical price.
Likewise, Nvidia and AMD have opposing stances and philosophies regarding how they are developing ecosystem of displays HDR gaming. Luckily, we had a chance to speak with both AMD’s Antal Tungler, Senior Manager of Global Technology Marketing, and Nvidia’s Vijay Sharma, Product Management Leader for Nvidia G-Sync, to get both companies’ takes on where the next generation display technology is going.
The Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ is a very pretty screen…
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But the Samsung CHG70 is far more affordable
“The Samsung CHG70 does 1440p, 144 Hz, HDR, FreeSync 2, basically all the same things,” Tungler says. “Granted, not in an IPS panel, it’s a VA panel, but the difference is not that big, and you pay four times as much on the Nvidia side than you pay on the FreeSync side.”
“I think there’s some tone-deafness on the side of Nvidia, in terms of when it comes giving people a really great HDR and variable-refresh gaming experience,” he tells us.
Sharma from Nvidia, on the other hand, argues that cutting-edge technology is always expensive to start, but he strongly believes that the price will go down quickly given the recent history of ultra-wide monitors.
“That’s the case with a lot of new, leading edge technology, and the good news is, with technology, the prices come down really fast,” Sharma says.
“Over a year ago, the curved 34-inch G-Sync monitors were launched by a number of Alienware, AOC, ASUS, Acer, HP. The starting price point when they launched was about $1,299. And at that time, over a year ago, it was unheard of,” Sharma tells us. “‘Are you crazy? $1,299 for a PC monitor?'”
“And, then, within six months, it was common to see those curved monitors at $999 –so they saw a $300 drop in less than a year,” he says. “So, that’s what has happened historically with other monitors. Now we’ll see what happens with the G-Sync HDR, but if what has happened in the past with technology holds true, the price is going to come down.”
The Acer Predator XB271HK (left) vs Acer Predator X27 G-Sync HDR (right)
HDR gaming for everyone
In our last discussion with Nvidia about G-Sync HDR monitors, Sharma and team clearly desired to deliver the best looking gaming monitor that ever existed. Sharma not only saw this as a goal to create the ultimate gaming monitor, but to also steer clear of the confusion that exists with the current slew of HDR gaming monitors that qualify for various levels of HDR certification and peak brightness.
“It’s certainly confusing for me and I’m very close to this stuff,” Sharma says in response to the gamut of HDR gaming monitors available today. “It reminds me of when HD televisions first started appearing. I had always been an early adopter, and then when HD television started appearing, it was so confusing because some were 720i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, this and that. And, I didn’t buy one for years.”
“I don’t want to make a mistake, because I’m going to live with this thing in my living room for a long time and I didn’t buy one,” Sharma tells us. “So, I think when you have such a spread or variance in product experience, it confuses people, and that’s not good.”
“Part of our philosophy and guiding principle is G-Sync, that sticker, that logo, our brand promise should cut through the confusion,” Sharma says. “So, if you buy a G-Sync HDR, you’re getting the best available technology put together in the best possible way. You’re going to have a good experience and you don’t have to feel cautious about buying G-Sync HDR.”
The Philips 436M6VBPAB is an incredible 43-inch HDR gaming monitor for $999 (£699, AU$1,398)
Similarly, with FreeSync 2, Tungler and AMD also believe in only picking out the panels with the best image quality, but they also want to make HDR gaming more accessible.
“FreeSync 2 is on the path of, ‘let’s make sure that is has the best quality panels’, it’s also on the path of, “let’s make it affordable and let’s make it accessible to all gamers,’” Tungler says. “That’s really the mission of FreeSync 2, is to combine variable refresh, so smooth gaming, with the best quality pixels that HDR content can offer.”
Like Nvidia G-Sync HDR, FreeSync 2 qualified panels must meet certain brightness, contrast ratio, color gamut, and latency requirements.
“We know it’s not that easy to hit, that combined with variable refresh. But that’s where we want to ensure that people have the best experience,” Tungler tells us. “Now, with that in mind, we also were cognizant that people don’t want to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on monitor upgrades.”
“People are somewhat leery about upgrading their monitor” he says. “That’s the last piece they consider upgrading, because they believe that is going to cost them a lot of money. They don’t necessarily know what to look for when it comes to monitor tech. I think Nvidia’s strategy of putting the best tech or gamer tech into the top of the top line only is not helping the cause. It’s actually detrimental.”
The HP Omen X 65 BFGD is one of Nvidia’s biggest G-Sync HDR screens
A bright future for HDR gaming
Despite Tungler and Sharma’s differing – and sometimes opposing – stances on how HDR market should develop and grow, they’re both equally excited about its future.
Tungler himself believes it’s his and AMD’s task to drum up the importance of HDR in PC Gaming with developers and their users.
“Basically, no TV today that doesn’t have HDR support and on the console side, they are well taken care of too. But on the PC side, the ecosystem is growing every day; we’re seeing more and more HDR displays coming out to market, and I think that’s just going to accelerate. Compared to some other gimmicky technologies in gaming, I think HDR is definitely here to stay and it’s going to keep growing.”
Sharma echoes similar sentiments, noting how “HDR gives us a brand new roadmap, a new path to go down, so I think the refresh rates will increase. I think you’ll see better color performance. I think the HDR performance is going to get better and better over time.”
