Unboxing and Teardown of HD23 TV Box with Built-in Camera

HD23 (aka MX HD23) is an Android TV Box designed for video conference or home monitoring that includes a 2.0 MP camera and can easily be placed on top of the television. It might actually be a clone of a product called TVPRO based on GearBest’s introduction video for the product, or at least it’s heavily inspired by that platform. GearBest sent me a sample so that I can check how the mini PC’s camera performs.

MX HD23 Unboxing

I’ve received the device in a retail package via DHL.

Everything is neatly packed in separate smaller boxes inside the package.HD23 mini PC comes with an IR remote control taking two AAA batteries, a mini USB OTG adapter, a 5V/1.5A power supply, an HDMI cable, and a Setup and User Guide in English.

On the front of the device we’ve got a power button, the camera, a camera LED, a microphone (the system allegedly features a dual microphone, but I could not find only one), and a small windows for the IR receiver.

While the rear panel comes with a USB port, a mini USB port, the power jack, an HDMI port, AV output and Line IN.

We can also find a micro SD slot on one side, and a pinhole for firmware upgrade on the other.

The mini PC is mounted on a flexible arm which can be mounted on most TVs using a “holder” with a spring to keep it securely in place.

MX HD23 Teardown

The swivel arm can be removed, and it’s compatible with the standard mounting thread of cameras. To open the device, you’ll also have to loosen 3 screws on the bottom of the case, two that can be seen easily, and the other under a sticker (top left), that if broken will void your warranty.

On the back of the board we can find a Realtel RTK8188ETV wireless module for 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, an 8 GB Foresee NCEFES78-08G eMMC 4.51 flash, and the camera flat cable that reads “K2155-HD23-G651 V1.0”.

If we look at the front panel we can clearly see the camera, microphone, and IR receiver.

Remove one more screw to completely take the board out of the case. There’s a thin sheet covering the processor and RAM chips.

A closer look at the top of the board, shows Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 processor is combined with two 4Gbit SKhynix H5TQ4G63AFR DDR3 SDRAM chips. The board is name HD23_H3_V10, and I can’t see any obvious location for the serial console, although test points H3 to H6 might be a candidates for this.

I’d like to thank GearBest for sending the review sample, and if you are interested you could consider purchasing MX HD23 from GearBest store for $60.60. Other shopping options include Amazon US, eBay, DealExtreme, GeekBuying, Aliexpress, and others.

Since I’ve already reviewed Allwinner H3 devices (e.g. Zidoo X1), and boards such as Orange Pi 2 mini, I only plan to write a mini-review for HD23 focusing on the built-in camera and microphone with Skype and Hangouts.

Continue reading “Mini Review of HD23 Android Mini PC with Skype and Google Hangouts“.

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