Nvidia Shield ‘night listening’ feature balances audio while watching movies after hours

Have you ever had to play “sound control” late at night while watching an action flick because the characters whisper and explosions are as loud as the commercials in between? Oh yeah? Me too. Unfortunately, on my Chromecast with Google TV, I find myself constantly pressing the up and down volume buttons as I watch something. Sadly, this has become second nature for most of us, and we do it without thinking, but Nvidia has a solution for this.

In the Nvidia Shield Experience update 9.1, a new ‘night listening’ mode will lessen the volume on those loud noises like explosions and such (via HDMI only) while increasing the volume of dialogue and other quiet things dynamically. I feel like this should have been a thing decades ago, but it is what it is.

Additionally, Shield TV will now automatically switch your television to low-latency “game mode” while you’re playing a game or doing a video call. Once you’re watching content again, game mode will toggle off. Previously, you would have had to manually switch this on and off.

Other features come with 9.1 as well (and a ton of bug fixes too!). See below for a full list from the company’s blog post.

• Adds support to automatically enable game mode on supported TVs (ALLM)
• Adds night listening mode (HDMI audio only)
• Adds option specify network workgroup when connecting to SHIELD over local network
• Adds option to create your own password when connecting to SHIELD over local
  network
• [SHIELD Pro 2019] Adds AI upscaling support for 60Hz HDR10 video
• [SHIELD Remote 2019] Adds option to only wake SHIELD with power or NETFLIX button
• [Game Controllers] Adds option to only wake SHIELD with logo button
• Adds option to match uncompressed audio with Dolby reference volume levels
• Adds option to disable displaying HDR/Dolby Vision content
• Adds notification when app uses microphone

Lastly, the YouTube TV app just received 5.1 surround sound for more immersive audio and the Disney+ app just got IMAX enhanced viewing, giving you an expanded aspect ratio, allowing you to view 26% more of the original image on screen.