This is probably a yes, other options would be the Tivo Stream 4k, Airplay TV or Mi Box all of which will regularly be behind on Android updates. For example Mi Box S just got Anrdoid 9 a few months ago.
Shield is the most powerful of them all and Nvidia is good at up keeping up on updates. Obviously anything directly from Google will get the most frequent updates. I would say anyone in the market should get a Shield for any primary locations and Chromecast 4k with Google TV for secondary locations. Bonus on the Shield is that it can run the DVR software well and it works with TVE.
I do have the DVR with TVE running on a Mi Box S right now and it works pretty well, but a Shield would work much better. We will likely be getting Shield soon.