The Shield TV is one of the most powerful and flexible options for running media to your TV, but it’s capable of much more. For a long time, the Shield TV has been able to act as a SmartThings hub, but now that functionality is being pulled.
An email sent out to Shield TV owners this week by Samsung (via Janko Roettgers) notifies those using the SmartThings Link functionality that it will be shut down in a few months. Specifically, the SmartThings Link will stop working on June 30, 2021. The email reads in part:
Just a little over three years ago, SmartThings partnered with NVIDIA to turn NVIDIA SHIELD into the brain of your smart home with the SmartThings Link.
As SmartThings continues to evolve our product and technology portfolio, we have decided to discontinue the SmartThings Link product effective June 30, 2021.
The SmartThings Link was a physical product launched with the 2017 version of the Shield TV that connects over USB. When plugged in, the Link allows a Shield TV to act as a Zigbee hub for compatible smart home devices such as light bulbs, smart locks, and more. The functionality went live in late 2017 and the SmartThings Link was sold for $89.99, $20 more than a dedicated SmartThings Hub. Notably, Samsung now only sells the SmartThings router that does Mesh WiFi and SmartThings in one for $119.
DigitalMediaZone also points out that the SmartThings Link for Nvidia Shield TV isn’t the only device Samsung is killing off this year. The company is also pulling support for its original v1 SmartThings Hub.
More on Shield TV:
- Nvidia Shield TV now supports PS5, Xbox Series X/S controllers
- Nvidia Shield TV can now control SmartThings devices (2017)
- Nvidia Shield TV seems like it might be exempt from Android TV’s new homescreen ads
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