NVIDIA Shield Control Driver v1.39

Smart Home Programming

Overview

Local two-way control of an NVIDIA Shield TV (and other Android TV / Google TV devices) over the network using ADB-over-TCP. Full navigation and transport, app discovery and launch with icons, volume with feedback, Now Playing metadata, Cast text-to-speech announcements, a browser Web Object, plus NVIDIA Shield-exclusive controls. Nothing is installed on the Shield.

Zero-Lag Input

Navigation uses a tiny (3.6 KB) on-device key injector that the driver copies to a temporary folder and runs on demand. Key presses are injected in about 5 milliseconds instead of the ~750 ms of a normal shell key command, so the remote feels instant. The helper is not an installed app - it lives in temporary storage and is removed on reboot (the driver re-establishes it automatically on every connection). If it ever cannot start, the driver falls back to standard key commands and keeps working. This can be turned off with the "Zero-Lag Fast Input" setting.

Setup

1. On the Shield: Settings > Device Preferences > About > click Build seven times to enable Developer options.

2. Settings > Device Preferences > Developer options > enable Network debugging (ADB over network, TCP port 5555).

3. Give the Shield a fixed IP address or a DHCP reservation.

4. In Integration Designer, add the driver and enter the Shield's IP in Device IP Address. Leave ADB Port at 5555.

5. Download the project to the processor. The first time it connects, the Shield shows an authorization prompt - select "Always allow from this computer" and OK.

6. Confirm Connection Status shows Connected and Authorised.

NVIDIA Shield Features

- AI-Enhanced Upscaling: set Off / Basic / Auto / Enhanced and a Detail level (Low / Medium / High). The current mode is reported in the AI Upscaling Mode variable.

- Display Output Status: reports the live output as Display Mode (for example "4K UHD 60Hz"), plus Display Resolution, Display Refresh, Display HDR (SDR / HDR10 / Dolby Vision / HLG / HDR10+) and Display ALLM. Use Refresh Display Info to update on demand.

- Launch NVIDIA Games: opens the NVIDIA Games / GeForce hub.

- Shield Firmware: reports the Shield software build.

Standard Features

- Navigation: Up / Down / Left / Right / Select / Back / Home / Menu.

- Transport: Play / Pause / Play-Pause / Stop / Next / Previous / Rewind / Fast Forward.

- Volume: Up / Down / Mute / Set Level, with feedback.

- Apps: browse the installed-apps list, launch by selection, with app icons. Bind Installed Apps to a list widget and Select Item to the row action.

- Now Playing: title, subtitle, artist, album, state, elapsed, duration and progress where the app publishes them.

- Power / wake, closed captions toggle, Wake-on-LAN, deep-link, and a browser Web Object dashboard.

Announcement Speakers and Auto-Scan

The driver can speak announcements through a Google Home or Nest speaker. To offer you a list of speakers to choose from it can scan the network, and that scan probes every device it finds.

Important: some Cast devices - ONN boxes, Chromecasts and other Android TV boxes - wake up when they are probed, and switch on the TV they are attached to. For that reason the automatic scan is OFF by default from v1.30, and when it is enabled it runs only once when the driver loads rather than after every reconnection.

It enables itself automatically once you set a valid Announcement Speaker IP, since at that point you are clearly using the feature. The address must be a complete IPv4 address (four numbers, such as 192.168.1.52) - a partial or mistyped address is ignored and the scan stays off, because an address that cannot reach a speaker should not switch on a network-wide probe. To hunt for a speaker without leaving the scan running, leave Auto-Scan For Cast Speakers unticked and use the Scan Cast Speakers function on demand instead.

Wake-on-LAN

The driver wakes a sleeping Shield by sending a Wake-on-LAN magic packet, then bringing the ADB connection back up. Leave Device MAC Address blank and it is detected automatically the first time the Shield answers, and remembered from then on.

Important: a Shield has a DIFFERENT MAC address on Wi-Fi than it does on Ethernet. If the Shield is moved from one to the other, the remembered address belongs to the interface it is no longer using, and Wake-on-LAN will silently stop working while every other function carries on normally. If wake stops after a rewire, clear Device MAC Address so it re-detects, or enter the MAC of the interface actually in use.

Wake-on-LAN also needs the Shield reachable on the same subnet as the processor, and some managed switches block directed broadcast - the driver sends to both the subnet broadcast and the last known IP to cover that.

Key Settings

- Device IP Address: the Shield's IP.

- ADB Port: 5555 (default).

- Zero-Lag Fast Input: on by default; disable only if key presses misbehave on an unusual device.

- Debug Port: telnet diagnostics port (default 12509; 0 to disable).

- Enable Remote Logging: off by default. Streams the driver log to Smart Home Programming for remote diagnostics, and should only be turned on if we ask you to.

Licensing

The driver runs fully for a 120-minute trial after each start. Enter a licence key (tied to the processor MAC shown in the driver variables) in the Licence Key setting for permanent use. Feedback and status remain available after the trial; only control commands are gated.

Remote Diagnostics

If you report a fault, we may ask you to turn on remote logging so we can see what the driver is doing on your system without you having to capture anything.

- Turn it on in Driver Properties, under Remote Logging (Development), by setting Enable Remote Logging to true.

- It can also be switched on or off from a button - the Diagnostics function category provides Remote Logging On, Remote Logging Off and Remote Logging Toggle.

- The telnet debug console reports the current state with the rlog command, and rlog test sends a test line.

- Nothing is sent while it is off, and no personal data is included - only the driver log.

Troubleshooting

- Not authorised: accept the prompt on the Shield. If none appears, revoke debugging authorizations on the Shield (Developer options) and reconnect.

- Cannot connect: confirm Network debugging is enabled and the processor and Shield can reach each other on the network.

- Slow navigation: check that Fast Input shows Ready in the debug console; if not, confirm the device allows the temporary helper to run.

- Processor becomes unresponsive after a day or so (macros stop running until the processor is restarted): fixed in v1.26. Earlier versions did not release an internal timer on every connection, which gradually starved smaller processors. Update to v1.26 or later.

Display shows "out of range" / no picture

If the TV or projector reports the signal as out of range, check the driver log for the line beginning "Shield: display". This is written every time the driver connects, at any debug level.

- A healthy chain reads something like: Shield: display 4K UHD 60Hz | HDR=HDR10

- A broken chain reads: Shield: display 640x350 85Hz | HDR=SDR

640x350 is the fallback the Shield drops to when it cannot read EDID from whatever is downstream. No projector will display it. From v1.32 the driver calls this out explicitly in the log and sets the Display Problem (no EDID) variable, and raises the Display Problem event.

The important part: the Shield only re-reads EDID when it boots or when it sees a genuine HDMI hotplug. Once it has latched the fallback mode it stays there indefinitely, so this does not clear on its own and no amount of delay in a macro will fix it.

To recover, make sure the display and any AVR or matrix in the path are powered on and passing signal, then run Resync Display, which reboots the Shield so it reads EDID again. To stop it recurring, set the AVR or matrix to hold EDID in standby, or to present a fixed EDID profile, so the Shield always sees something valid.

Support

Smart Home Programming - https://smarthomeprogramming.com.au