Stepping out of its chassis comfort zone, NZXT paddles into the stream
We’ve got to hand it to the Doko from NZXT. It really tries. And bless it, the little streaming box almost works. What we have here is a tiny client you plug into your 1080p television, then into your home PC’s network, to allow you to use your rig as though it was directly connected to the remote screen. But there are some serious limitations to this bargain box of tricks which hold it back from being the smart little device we were really hoping for.
NZXT is primarily known as a chassis manufacturer, though it also makes PSUs and coolers too. The Doko is its first foray into the world of complete devices, partnering with streaming folk MirrorOp to marry its software to the off-the-shelf parts that NZXT has built the device from.
MirrorOp is a relatively established software setup, allowing the streaming of Windows and Apple PCs as well as phones and tablets too. The hardware that NZXT has used is an ARM 11-based SoC from Taiwanese manufacturer Wonder Media. Its Prizm WM8750 runs at 800MHz, with a 1080p video decoding engine and an H.264 encoder. It’s also running with 256MB RAM and 8MB boot storage. All that adds up to a tiny box that’s able to stream your Windows PC at 1,920 x 1,080, but only at 30Hz. It also has to be wired into the same network as your PC too as it’s lacking support for wireless connectivity.
To make things as seamless as possible the Doko sports four USB 2.0 ports on the front, which operate exactly like plugging directly into your remote PC. It’s ridiculously easy to set up too – just download the Doko software on your PC, start it up and the Doko device will spot your machine and get chatting. That means you can game with keyboard and mouse or with any controller of your choice. You can also plug in USB media as you would normally to view data, watch videos and so on. Seamless.
That’s where it starts to go downhill though. On a side-by-side network in the office, with both the Doko and test machine plugged directly into the router, it works okay. There is noticeable input lag when you’re using both mouse and keyboard and the video doesn’t always stay particularly consistent. This is the big problem with it running at 30Hz. It would almost be acceptable if it remained at a constant 30fps, but even on the closest connection we could possibly make it was like an elderly gent at a urinal, struggling to maintain a consistent stream. When you’re trying to game – a key selling point in NZXT’s marketing strategy – that becomes a real pain.
And when you’ve got Steam’s In-Home Streaming and Nvidia’s SHIELD tablet offering better ways to access your games away from your desktop PC, it’s tough for the Doko to really make a name for itself. Sure, it’s a third of the cost of a SHIELD Tablet, but when the experience is nowhere near as good it becomes impossible to recommend on that front. We also had serious trouble across an otherwise rock-solid powerline network too. The lag became monstrous and it introduced severe artefacting on both the Windows desktop as well as in-game too.
Somewhat inevitably we arrive at one of those close-but-no-smoking moments. The Doko certainly does enable you to access your PC across a wired home network, and the USB functionality is neat, but it’s low price doesn’t make up for that inconsistent stream. – Dave James
SPECIFICATIONS
Processor Wonder Media Prizm WM8750
RAM 256MB DDR3
Storage 8MB boot drive
Connections 4x USB 2.0, audio out
Video out HDMI 1.3
Network Gigabit Ethernet
Dimensions (H x D x W) 29 x 121 x 108mm