I have been using Retroarch on several platforms, including MAC, Windows 10 and a Retropie, Never had issues with my Mame 2003 set (0.78 Roms). I recently bought a Nvidia Shield TV as I was hoping it could be the desired easy-to-use casual retro-gaming device in our living room.
It works great, but I have major issues with my Mame 2003 set. I do not get a single game to load. It either gives a black screen or it will freeze a couple of seconds after the start. I am mainly using older Roms as Galaga, Donkey Kong etc. The very same Roms play great on Retropie etc.
I am running Retroarch 1.7.1 (just updated today, had the same issues with 1.7.0 though). Mame 2003 core is 0.78 78720e8 Android is latest version. Nvidia Shield is the 2017 model. The roms are located in their .zip files on an external drive in a folder that I also used successfully on MAC/Windows/Retropie.
Other cores work fine.
Thank you for any help, Sascha