Nvidia Shield Pro

[HairyBizRat 21]

Hi all

i just picked up a Nvidia Shield Pro brand new and am trying to see the AI upscaling feature. But when I’m playing a show or movie in Emby and then go to NVIDIA’s menu it says Not active not required.

i don’t have resolution switching or match framerate enabled in Emby.

i even played a 1080p show and then changed the playback quality to 720p and then 480p but Nvidia menu still shows not active for AI upscaling.

does anyone know what I might be doing wrong?

 

[Luke 42077]

@FrostBytehave you tried this before?

[PrincessClevage 175]

 

1.  
   • AI upscaling only kicks in when the Shield is set to 4K output.
   • If your Shield is set to 1080p output, then a 1080p (or lower) video won’t be upscaled — because it’s already “native” to the display.
2. 
   Go to Settings → Display & Sound → Resolution and make sure it’s locked to 4K 60Hz (not “Match content”).

 

 

 

 

 

1. Video Playback Pipeline
   • Some apps (like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+) integrate directly with Shield’s video pipeline, so AI upscaling works.
   • Other apps (like Emby, Plex, Kodi) can sometimes bypass it depending on how they handle decoding.
   • If Emby is using external player mode or hardware passthrough in a way that sends the decoded image directly to the TV, the Shield doesn’t touch it — so no upscaling.
2. 
   Test with YouTube, Netflix, or Plex (official client) at 720p/1080p. If AI upscaling kicks in there, then the Shield is fine — it’s just Emby not routing through NVIDIA’s scaler.

Quick test:

Set Shield to 4K 60Hz output → Open YouTube app → Search “4K AI Upscaling Test NVIDIA Shield” → Play a 720p or 1080p video → Hit the “AI upscaling demo” shortcut on your remote (press Menu button during playback). If it works there but not in Emby, then the issue is Emby’s playback path.

[HairyBizRat 21]

13 minutes ago, PrincessClevage said:

 

1.  
   • AI upscaling only kicks in when the Shield is set to 4K output.
   • If your Shield is set to 1080p output, then a 1080p (or lower) video won’t be upscaled — because it’s already “native” to the display.
2. 
   Go to Settings → Display & Sound → Resolution and make sure it’s locked to 4K 60Hz (not “Match content”).

 

 

 

 

 

1. Video Playback Pipeline
   • Some apps (like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+) integrate directly with Shield’s video pipeline, so AI upscaling works.
   • Other apps (like Emby, Plex, Kodi) can sometimes bypass it depending on how they handle decoding.
   • If Emby is using external player mode or hardware passthrough in a way that sends the decoded image directly to the TV, the Shield doesn’t touch it — so no upscaling.
2. 
   Test with YouTube, Netflix, or Plex (official client) at 720p/1080p. If AI upscaling kicks in there, then the Shield is fine — it’s just Emby not routing through NVIDIA’s scaler.

Quick test:

Set Shield to 4K 60Hz output → Open YouTube app → Search “4K AI Upscaling Test NVIDIA Shield” → Play a 720p or 1080p video → Hit the “AI upscaling demo” shortcut on your remote (press Menu button during playback). If it works there but not in Emby, then the issue is Emby’s playback path.

Shield is set to 4K , I don’t use Netflix , plex etc but I’ll try a YouTube video when I’m back home and see if it works then

[FrostByte 5392]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

@FrostBytehave you tried this before?

Yes, works here with resolution and refresh rate switching turned off in the app.

[HairyBizRat 21]

6 hours ago, FrostByte said:

Yes, works here with resolution and refresh rate switching turned off in the app.

Stupid question, how did you get the menu to come up while the video is full screen? When I press the menu button my video goes small like a thumbnail and the Home Screen is displayed and then menu on the right . Maybe that’s my issue 

[FrostByte 5392]

6 minutes ago, HairyBizRat said:

Stupid question, how did you get the menu to come up while the video is full screen? When I press the menu button my video goes small like a thumbnail and the Home Screen is displayed and then menu on the right . Maybe that’s my issue 

Try clicking Pause first.  If it's playing, I believe it will go into PiP mode.

[Lessaj 467]

You can also disable PiP for Emby in the android permissions, I was testing out the AI upscaling while playing and it kept going into PiP so I turned it off.

It was probably the content I was watching (Stargate SG-1 in 1080p) but honestly I couldn't tell the difference between Basic, Enhanced, and AI Enhanced. I even tried the demo mode where I can move the bar to see the difference between them and I couldn't tell. I just leave it on Basic. Maybe it helps with lower res content.

[HairyBizRat 21]

4 hours ago, Lessaj said:

You can also disable PiP for Emby in the android permissions, I was testing out the AI upscaling while playing and it kept going into PiP so I turned it off.

It was probably the content I was watching (Stargate SG-1 in 1080p) but honestly I couldn't tell the difference between Basic, Enhanced, and AI Enhanced. I even tried the demo mode where I can move the bar to see the difference between them and I couldn't tell. I just leave it on Basic. Maybe it helps with lower res content.

Thanks , disabling PIP is better and it shows up scaling active. I don’t notice a difference in shows but when there is writing in the show etc the AI enhanced really sharpened the writing up

[Lessaj 467]

2 minutes ago, HairyBizRat said:

Thanks , disabling PIP is better and it shows up scaling active. I don’t notice a difference in shows but when there is writing in the show etc the AI enhanced really sharpened the writing up

Thanks I'll check that next time, maybe during the intro sequence, but they are quite large letters. I'll try to find something smaller in a background that might show it.