HiMedia Q30 Review: Android TV Box powered by HiSilicon Hi3798M V200

We are after testing the Himedia Q30 TV Box so today we want to introduce you to HiMedia Q30 review. Undoubtedly, this is a splendid great TV Box from HiMedia, but the firmware requires some optimization and improvement of some features. What exactly? You will find out from this review. Together we follow the standard stages of our review. We invite you to read.

I want to say thanks to HiMedia company (HiMedia Technology Limited – www.himediatech.com, Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Himediatech/) for sending us a HiMedia Q30 TV Box to review. The HiMedia Q30 TV Box can be bought directly from HiMedia via email, TV Box can also buy on Gearbest for $139 + free shipping, and on Geekbuying for $149.

HiMedia Q30 Android TV Box basic specifications:

• CPU – HiSilicon Hi3798M V200 quad-core ARM Cortex A53 processor
• GPU – Multi-core ARM Mali-450 supporting OpenGL ES2.0/1.1, OpenVG1.1, EGL,Imprex 2.0 PQ engine with HDR/HLG/SLF/HDR to SDR,BT.709+BT.2020
• Memory – 2GB DDR3
• OS – Android 7.0 with 1080p UI
• Storage – 8GB eMMC flash and SD card
• Video Ouput – 1x HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz, 1x composite video (RCA)
• Audio Output – HDMI, stereo audio (RCA), optical S/PDIF port.
• Video Codecs / Formats – 10-bit H.265/HEVC, H.264, VC1, MPEG4, MPEG2, VP9, VP8, VP6, AVS video decoding up top 250 Mbps bitrate. 3D blu-ray, BD-ISO, 3D BD-ISO
• Audio Capabilities – 7.1 HD Audio pass-through and downmix for Dolby TtrueHD, DTS HD, and Dolby Atmos, 192K/24bit audio decoding and output
• Connectivity – Fast Ethernet 10/100 Mbps, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with external antenna
• USB – 1x USB 3.0 host port, 2x USB 2.0 host ports
• Misc – Front LED, IR receiver
• Power Supply – 12V/2A (perhaps)
• Dimensions & Weight – n/a
• Case – metal shell

What we find in the box?

• HiMedia Q30 TV Box
• HDMI cable (with HiMedia branding)
• Remote control (without AAA batteries)
• Power adapter 5V/2A (EU)
• Quick Start Guide

 

The following video from our YouTube channel where you can take a look at more HiMedia Q30 TV Box and bundled accessories.

First impressions, settings, overview of features

The HiMedia Q30 is another great TV Box made in high-end style, from HiMedia portfolio. The housing like most TV Box from HiMedia is made of aluminum (in black color).  The case and the TV Box are doing a very good impression. TV Box is a really high quality. As mentioned at the beginning of TV Box is equipped with a cheaper version (HiSilicon Hi3798C V200) SoC from HiSilicon called HiSilicon Hi3798M V200, which also supports H.265/HEVC Main/Main 10 [email protected] 5.1 high-tier, 4K x [email protected] fps 10-bit decoding, H.264/AVC BP/MP/[email protected] 5.1, H.264/AVC MVC, 4K x [email protected] fps decoding, 4K x [email protected] fps 10-bit VP9 decoding and more. TV Box also runs on Android 7.0.  At the center of the top cover we find a logo HiMedia. On the front panel Q30 TV Box has a IR receiver, Power button and power LED. On one side there are two USB ports: USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. On another side is another USB 2.0 and SD card slot. On the rear panel are: S/PDIF optical audio, Composite AV (L/R Stereo), HDMI 2.0a, Ethernet LAN (RJ45), Upgrade hole and DC jack.

At the bottom of the device there are rubber pads to prevent shifting, and serial number and MAC address. Below also is a well-known remote control.

HiMedia Q30 has a well-known UI from earlier models (Q10 Pro, Q5 Pro, A5), launcher looks great and is very readable, providing quick and easy access to the most important features. We chose typical the resolution of FHD 1920×1080 (1080p 60Hz) but you can also adjust the preferred resolution (also 2160p 30Hz) or set the auto switch. In the display option, you can set (as in TV) contrast, brightness, and sharpness. Everything worked stable and very quickly without delays. The Netflix app from Google Play is not compatible, but you can use Netflix_v4.16.1 then everything works OK. HiMedia Q30 support also DLNA and Miracast. But it was not possible to connect via the pre-installed Miracast application. We used HiShare app – HiShare2.0.7 (from HiMedia) for Miracast, which can be installed on a smartphone or tablet. Of course, the Q30 can additionally be controlled using the dedicated application on the smartphone – HiControl_hmdCV200. On the smartphone, via HiControl App we see the main screen as if on a Q30 was launched mirrored screen. The application works quickly and without problems, it is nicely done. We had no problem with Ethernet and WiFi connection to router and to Internet, but Wifi connection could be faster. (Ethernet: Download – 93.30Mbps Upload – 41.41Mbps, WiFi: Download – 25.52Mbps Upload – 17.02Mbps). In addition to the remote control (that looks and works great), we used a standard keyboard and mouse and Gamepad GameSir G3s. On the remote control you can assign any application, on buttons 1 to 9.  Although the device in its specification has 8GB eMMC, storage has 4.06GB of data (Error displaying, by SAMBA storage size is correct). HiMedia Q30 does not have a standby mode, but we do not consider this as a disadvantage. The HiMedia Q30 TV Box has Kodi 17.3 “Krypton” (we have updated the preinstalled version 17.3 to latest 17.4). TV Box also has parental control, you can lock any application with a PIN code so kids do not have access. Unfortunately there is a problem with bluetooth. When turned on the bluetooth tv box does not find the device. Below some screenshots. 

On HiMedia Q30, you can also play in popular games on Google Play. The bluetooh problem (through which we wanted to connect the GameSir G3s) was bypassed by the IR receiver. The combination of gamepad and TV Box is great fun. In Angry Birds we used a VENZ VZ-RK-1 airmouse.

HiMedia Q30 also supports movie poster, so if you plug your HDD with your video library it looks great below a few screenshots.

HiMedia Q30 is also another TV Box that has a SAMBA feature. You can easily share files on your LAN. Just set the password, login: administrator. As you can see on one of the screenshots, the size of the TV Box storage is correct (8GB, not 4GB as  in TV Box settings). Below are some screenshots from a laptop. Copy a folder with screenshots from TVBox via ethernet TV Box / WiFi laptop: 8.86 Mb/s , only WiFi (TV Box and Laptop) 1.67 MB/s. Below are some screenshots from a laptop.

Operating system and components

The HiMedia Q30 runs on the Android 7.0 Nougat, and the Linux Kernel version 3.18.24. HiMediaQ30 TV Box comes with firmware build number HMD-2.0.4 2017-05-17.095242, but we updated the firmware (via OTA, big plus) to the latest version build number HMD-2.0.4 2017-07-28.190939 (you can download from HiMedia). Below screenshots.

HiMedia Q30 powered by new HiSilicon Hi3798M V200 quad-core ARM Cortex A53 up to 2.0GHz processor and GPU ARM Mali-450, CPU speed between 400 MHz and 2 GHz. On the following screens, you can see exactly the components used and their specification (Information taken from the CPU-Z app).

After using the DRM info (app) we know that HiMedia Q30 TV Box supports Google Widevine Moudlar DRM, but unfortunately does not support Microsoft Playready DRM, Marlin DRM and Verimatrix VCAS. Device does not have root access.

Performance tests and benchmarks

For testing, we use the AnTuTu Video Tester 3.0 app and AnTuTu Benchmark 6.1.4. The result 917. Also worthy of note is that Q30 TV Box did not have not supported codecs.

Video playback by Kodi 17.4 Krypton runs smoothly and stable. The HiMedia Q30 without problem seems plays movies with the resolution of 480p,720p and 1080p (24fps, 30fps, 60fps) and also 4K (60fps) with various codecsvideo such as H.264,H.265, MPEG2, MPEG4, RMVB and audio – DTS and AC3. Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough worked fine via HDMI. Also I tested several video formats – AVI, MKV, MP4 (typical formats in which it holds the majority of movies), ISO and also videos was played fine. The tested TV Box plays video files in 4K (also 60fps) almost without any major problems. The following table of video samples tested for Kodi. TV Box Also copes well with playing the video on YouTube – videos plays in 1080p. Also, we tried to play VP9 4K video runs smoothly.

Typical 1080p	KODI
MPEG2 / MP2 2.0 – 6.6Mbps	OK
MPEG4 / MP3 2.0 – 7.6Mbps	OK
H264 / AAC 2.0 – 7.2Mbps	OK
VC1 / WMA3 2.0 – 25Mbps	OK
VP8 / VORBIS 2.0 – 7.8Mbs	OK
–	–
4K Video
Sintel – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 24fps	OK
BBB Sunflower -H264 – 60fps	Sound delays
Honey Bees – 96fps	OK
Skyfall – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 10Mbps	OK
Puppies Bath – h264/AAC 2.0	OK
Cinemartin H265/HEVC	OK
Tears of steel – 60fps	OK
HD Club Chimei – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 60Mbps	OK
Jellyfish 4k uhd HEVC 10bit – 140Mbps	OK
Jellyfish 4k uhd HEVC 10bit – 200/250/300/400Mbps	OK
LG Demo – Istanbul 3840×2160 MP4/H264 8bit – 116Mbps	OK
Sony 4K – Camp HDR MP4/HEVC 10bit – 75.8Mbps	OK
Demo Samsung 2014 – USA Road Trip TS/HEVC 10bit – 51.4Mbps	OK
Demo Samsung 2014 TS/HEVC 10bit – 51.4Mbps	OK
H.265/VP9 Video
Tears of steel – H265-HVEC / AAC 2.0 – 15Mbps	OK
Youtube – VP9 / 1080p	OK
VP9 / 4k – Eye of the Storm 4K Ultra HD.webmv	OK
VP9 / 4k – 10 Incredible 4K (Ultra HD) Videos.webmv	OK
VP9 / 4k – Australia – Land Down Under in 4K.webmv	OK

 

HiMedia Q30 Benchmarks

Below Benchmark screenshots we were able to do: AnTuTu Benchmark v6.1.4, GeekBench 4, 3D Mark: Ice Storm Extreme, Vellamo and GPUbench. HiMedia Q30 TV Box has the internal memory benchmarks: Read 66.35MB/s – Write 8.12MB/s. RAM copy speed was 2328.43MB/s.

Conclusions

HiMedia Q30 is one of the cheaper TV Boxes from HiMedia and it is also another good TV Box. Although some features require repair (bluetooth) and optimization. Himedia is one of the leaders in the TV Box market, so we hope to see some improvements in the next firmware (OTA update). Once again I want to say thanks to HiMedia company for sending us a HiMedia Q30 sample. If you are looking for a good quality TV Box for your home entertainment center and vendor support you should consider buying a HiMedia Q30.