The Nvidia Shield box has received an update that enables it to stream 4K movies from the Google Play Movie store. The update also enables the built-in Chromecast feature to handle 4K.

More 4K content on Nvidia Shield
Google started adding 4K movies to its movie catalog in December 2016. The 4K movies are currently only available in the US and Canada but Google has promised to expand availability to more countries in the future.

In December 2016, Nvidia Shield was for some reason excluded. It should take a little over 4 months before Nvidia, who is typically at the forefront of development, joined the party.

Nvidia Shield can now stream 4K content from Amazon, Google Play Movies, Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo, and other apps. The company has created the diagram below.


4K via Chromecast
After the update, Nvidia Shield has also gained the ability to handle 4K video via the built-in Chromecast function. It obviously requires that the content source – for example Netflix or YouTube – offers content in 4K resolution.

Google distinguishes between the hardware Chromecast (that runs on linux) and ’Chromecast Built-in’ (an embedded Android app), which is integrated in all Android TV devices. Google usually rolls out new features to the hardware unit first.

The Nvidia Shield box was launched in 2015 and refreshed in 2017. The 2017 box is available for $200 dollars.