NVIDIA isn't impressed by the new Apple TV

Yesterday, Apple unveiled its revamped TV box, alongside its other products, which comes with a new OS, access to TV based apps and also acts as a living room gaming device. Apple certainly wasn’t the first to market though and NVIDIA doesn’t seem too impressed. Late, under powered and already outdated seems to be the vibe.

“The future of TV is apps” proclaimed Cook during yesterday’s presentation, meaning that Apple has finally caught up with Amazon and the rest of the Android TV space by moving over to an app based TV OS. The device also comes with a remote control with a touch-sensitive panel and built in microphone, which enables users to issue voice and search commands to Siri.

Although Apple TV seems to have most of the main features covered and a reasonable selection of channels to choose from, NVIDIA points out that its SHIELD Android TV box has a few more, as do a few other Android based boxes. Not only that, but the SHIELD is the only major product to support 4K video content and HDMI 2.0 technology.

“Wireless remote with voice integration? Check. Universal voice and cross-app search? Check. Ability to download games from a dedicated TV app store? Check. How about a mobile OS with a user interface optimized for TV? Been there, done that.” – NVIDIA

For the gamers out there, NVIDIA is also boasting almost three times the benchmark performance of the latest Apple TV and even higher gains over the likes of the Nexus Player or the Amazon Fire TV. The SHIELD Android TV also supports game streaming from PC, GRID cloud gaming technology and a selection of “console-class” games. Of course, not everyone is going to care about all of these features, but it’s something to consider, given that Apple spent some considerable time talking about video games during its presentation.

NVIDIA sent us this nifty little comparison chart that sums up the major features included in variety of major set-top boxes. It’s probably worth a glance if you’re thinking about picking up a box any time soon.

What do you think about the NVIDIA SHIELD TV box and Apple TV, or are there other set-top boxes out there that are more worthy of your cash?