> since I got it 10 years ago

Probably one of the big issues here. It's probably still the best Android TV you can get today but that's really sad because the SoC in it came out in 2015 (with some improvements in 2019). It was probably worse than what was in Apple TV at the time and Apple refreshed it two times since then.

I held off on buying it for many years because of the chorus of people saying, "Once the Switch 2 comes out, we'll get a new one!" (the line of thinking being that the Nvidia Shield used the same custom SoC as the Switch 1).

Switch 2 is out, no new Shield in sight. And the Shield TV Pro is still $200...

I doubt it. That SOC is still overkill for video (which I believe powered the Nintendo Switch 1). I think the big issue is really a combination of the Nvidia software and just terrible Android TV.