In addition to e-readers, cameras and smartwatches, you can also get streaming devices at a huge discount this Prime Day. NVIDIA's Shield streamers, for instance, are currently listed for the lowest prices we've seen for them on the website. You can get the base NVIDIA Shield TV streaming media player for $125, or $25 less than its original retail price. Meanwhile, the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro will now only set you back $170, which gives it a discount of $30 and is $9 lower than its previous all-time low. Both devices are powered by Android TV and come with built-in Google Assistant, allowing you to control them with voice commands through a Google Home speaker.

Android TV fans looking for something a bit more powerful than a Chromecast should consider the NVIDIA Shield TV. However, now you can grab the NVIDIA Shield TV for $130, or $20 off its normal price. That's almost a record low -- we saw it drop to $129 ahead of Black Friday last year -- but this is the best price we've seen in 2021, and it's only come around a couple of times so far. Despite being more expensive than streaming dongles of similar size, the NVIDIA Shield is worth the extra money thanks to its Tegra X1 processor. It's powerful enough to run the Android TV platform with ease, and it supports Dolby Vision HDR, Dolby Atmos audio, Chromecast 4K and AI-powered HD-to-4K upscaling. It also works with the Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa, so you can bark orders at it instead of using the triangular remote if you wish.

It's all too easy to overlook the quality of the remote control when picking a streaming device, as I've written before. You might not realize it from the price tag, for instance, but the $180 Apple TV 4K has one of the worst remotes on the market. The slim design too easily slips between couch cushions, and its trackpad-based controls have a steep learning curve. Conversely, the $29 Roku Express seems like a great value until you realize that its remote lacks basic TV controls. What's a cord-cutter to do, then? If you're stuck with a bad remote, consider a third-party replacement instead of buying an entirely new streaming device.

It's the ideal streamer for media hoarders who want to build a cheap a Plex server, for cord-cutters who want to roll their own over-the-air DVR, for Kodi enthusiasts (with that media center's morally dubious third-party plug-ins), for a certain breed of living-room gamers, and for people who just want as much computing power as they can get. At the same time, cheaper 4K streaming devices such as Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K and Roku's Streaming Stick have gotten better at the basics, providing adequate performance while rivaling or surpassing the Shield TV's HDR support at a fraction of its cost. In other words, the Nvidia Shield TV isn't for everyone, but it's an unbeatable streaming device for nerds with money to spend on their nerdy hobbies. I'm glad something like that exists, even if the overall value isn't quite what it used to be. Update, January 28, 2019: This review was updated in its entirety to reflect the Nvidia Shield TV's place in the current media-streaming landscape.

The ultimate streaming box for gamers and audiophiles is back on sale for a good price. You can pick up Nvidia's Shield TV with remote from Amazon for $149 right now. That's $10 higher than the sale price we saw in early November, but it's still lower than the usual $170 to $180 for this box, which doesn't go on sale very often. The Nvidia Shield TV is an outstanding living room device. At its core, it's an Android TV box, but the Shield TV can do so much more than simply stream Netflix and Hulu.

The Nvidia Shield TV is two devices in one: an awesome high-end Android TV streaming box and an excellent gaming machine. And to put this wondrous box under more trees this year, Nvidia has dropped the price off the MSRP by $30 for both the gaming edition and the regular version through December 24Remove non-product link. To sweeten the deal, the sale coincides with Nvidia's latest 7.2 software update for the Shield TV, which brings support for Amazon Music in the U.S. Right now, you can pick up the Nvidia Shield TV Gaming Edition for $169 or the standard version for $149. Both versions include a remote with the Shield, but the Gaming edition adds a controller. There's also a third bundle that includes a Shield with a Samsung SmartThings Link for $190, $40 off the usual combined retail price.

Black Friday is one of the best times of the year to buy a new streaming device for your TV, with discounts available on Roku players, Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast, and more. Still, not all of these deals are worth the money, especially if your current streaming device is in good working order. Let's take a closer look: Roku has a few device deals going on Black Friday, some better than others. Most folks should avoid the Roku SE, a $20 streaming device that will be available only in Walmart brick-and-mortar stores. This device is nearly identical to the $30 Roku Express, with the same processing power and 1080p HD video support, but it has a white finish instead of black and different shortcut buttons.

In a world filled with Fire TVs, Roku sticks, and Apple TVs, it's easy to overlook the Nvidia Shield TV as a streaming option. But few other boxes have its broad functionality, which combines video streaming capabilities with gaming power to create a killer all-in-one device. At $180, it's one of the more expensive options, but today you can snag a free Google Home Mini when you buy an Nvidia Shield TV streaming media player at WalmartRemove non-product link. The Nvidia Shield TV supports a wide range of TV streaming services, from Netflix to Amazon Video, and can stream in 4K HDR for the best picture available. You can also download games right to the console and stream compatible PC games.

Channel Master is aware of your complaints about its Stream over-the-air DVR, but is powerless to do much about them. That's the impression I get from the Known Bugs & Issues page for its Stream DVR, a $149 set-top box that can record free over-the-air TV channels. Compared to Channel Master's now-discontinued DVR, the Stream offers a slicker interface, fancy features such as voice search, and a much bigger selection of streaming video apps. But in some ways, the Stream is less capable than the DVRs it replaces. And as a streaming box, it lacks access to some of the most popular online video services, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

It's called "Yeti," and it's the code name attached to an intriguing rumor about Google's gaming ambitions that emerged this week. The rumor suggests the company is developing its own cloud-based gaming service and home console. As The Information reported, the so-called service would stream games into users' homes from remote servers, allowing users to play on a Chromecast or a new console made by Google. A game console from Google could be a big deal, akin to how Microsoft transformed the gaming business after launching the Xbox in 2001. Still, this week's reporting offered scant details how Google's gaming service might work, what its hardware might look like, and when we'll see the fruits of these efforts.