Hello fellow Shield TV lovers, I noticed in the last 6 months or so my 2019 shield pro was bogging down immensely, freezing when opening menus or apps for split seconds, not responding when trying to un-pause a video, and stuttering on KODI remux files, just generally feeling slow. My apple TV was feeling a lot smoother, when I didn't remember the shield so slow. My wife finally told me we should buy a newer one, and I said there isn't a newer one... and nothing streams lossless audio from blurays like the shield for my home theater. I knew something was up with the slow speeds, so I dug around and found all the methods to speed this thing up and I can say I've got it blazing fast now, without stutters or lag. I thought I'd share what's already common knowledge but with every step I've taken in a nice little guide.

1. Clean fans & re-apply thermal paste

Not sure how effective this step was for speeding it up as I went to the next step relatively quickly, and I've seen some controversy if the re-paste is necessary, but DEFINITELY open this thing up and blow the fans out at the very least. I did end up going for a re-paste though, since the thermal paste seemed relatively dried up. Here is the video I followed step by step: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLIo7v3UncE&t=135s with a few caveats:

1. The screws are EASY to strip. You need a specific tiny Philips screw driver for the back screws. I believe I used Phillips #00 or #000 on it but can't quite remember so just be careful. I ended up stripping one of the screws so I took a 1/16" drill bit and literally drilled into the screw until the screw head popped off. Then I could remove the shield cover. I wouldn't recommend that, but this is an option if you strip the screws.
2. The shield did not just slide open like the video, I had to shove a flat head screw drive under the front of the shield and kind of pop the cover off. Don't be discouraged if it doesn't slide off just like the video.

2. Factory reset

Probably the most recommended way to speed the shield up and it seemed to have the most impact. I'm not sure why Android needs this, I've read that the cache builds over time, and perhaps when we updated from different Android versions I've heard it can store things that bog the shield down, so as silly and annoying as it sounds, if you don't do any of these steps, at the very least do a factory reset, it'll make a big difference.

3. Animation speeds

This is a simple setting in the shield developer settings often recommended to make the menus and navigation feel snappier, here is a quick guide: Animation Speeds Guide

4. Debloat with ADB commands

The shield technically has a lot of background services that may or may not be needed and can slow it down, if you've done the above steps and are happy then I'd skip this, but I wanted to squeeze any last bit of performance out of the shield. I followed the guide here, it seems to still work for Android 11: https://florisse.nl/shield-debloat/

EDIT: I realized a few of these commands disable voice control (text-to-speech search for example), as well as the ability for the mobile app to work and the Android screensaver. Have not found any other issues yet, but if you bulk ran the ADB commands, run these to get back voice control + mobile app functionality + screensaver:

• adb shell cmd package install-existing com.nvidia.shield.remote.server
• adb shell cmd package install-existing com.google.android.speech.pumpkin
• adb shell cmd package install-existing com.nvidia.shield.remote.server
• adb shell cmd package install-existing com.google.android.backdrop

5. (Optional) Custom Launchers

I believe in the ADB guide they go over custom launchers, but I personally use Projectivity Launcher and find it super sleek and clean. This may or may not speed up the shield, but it's more akin to a Apple TV layout, it just shows your apps in a nice clean grid view, and it's very customizable. No more annoying Shield ads and bloated navigation.

Closing out

These are all the things I did to get my shield feeling like new, and even better than factory in my opinion (due to animations + debloat with ADB), and even perhaps repasting since I'm not sure when the 2019's last got repasted if they sit on the shelfs long enough. It really feels snappy now and comparable to the apple tv in terms of speed. There is nothing quite like the shield and until we get a new one, this maintenance will make sure we can all hold out until we hopefully get an updated one.