Elgato Stream Deck Classic – Discontinued

First it Does not come with a capture card but it can be used with OBS. Having said that it works flawlessly. There are 15 buttons, but there’s also additional screens to add more programable buttons. Worth it

…and you won’t be wrong.

I bought this to make life easier when doing live online training seminars. I use either OBS Studio or a Blackmagic Designs ATEM Mini Pro ISO (if I want to tape the separate input streams, for later processing into high quality virtual seminars), and there is a lot to work with. I don’t want to be switching from app to app… from OBS to pick the camera/view, add a lower third key, to Powerpoint to advance a slide, to Zoom to see my audience. I want to be able to hit a button and make the app-specific changes I need without screwing up what I’m outputting to my audience. The Stream Deck was highly recommended by a variety of sources.

This is really a second keyboard with a few differences… the keys themselves are mini-LCD screens that can be configured with text or images, can change appearance based upon feedback from the action (if supported), and one button can call sequences of actions (multi-action) as if you pressed multiple buttons. The actions supported do not require the acted-upon application to be in focus (topmost on your desktop), so you could be in one app, e.g., OBS Studio, while advancing to the next slide in another app, e.g., Powerpoint. There are a variety of plugins that support various applications, for instance there’s an OBS Studio plug-in as well as support for the Blackmagic Designs ATEM Mini series of video production mixers through their desktop software app. There’s also generic HTTP support for GET and POST actions, and support for calling a REST API. IN short, if a desktop or web app can be controlled by an API, then it can be controlled by the Stream Deck. You can even use it for Smart Home control.

I use it, but here are some reservations. You will need to choose an application that runs on your PC (the PC that the Stream Deck console is plugged into) that will program the buttons on the unit. El Gato provides a Stream Deck app that works, but is a bit rough. There is a separate web app from El Gato (you go to a website) and you can configure button appearances. It would be nice if these were integrated, but they’re not. Then there’s Bitforce’s Companion, a web service that can both program the Stream Deck and configure key appearances. This app is functionally similar to both of the El Gato apps, combined in one. However, it currently does not have the same plug-in capabilities. What it does have is the ability to have up to 99 pages, so a 16-button Stream Deck actually becomes a 1287-button deck (you lose 3 buttons per page in order to control flipping pages, so 13 x 99 buttons). Depending on the capabilities of the Companion plug-in for specific apps/devices, you can also get feedback (a return code) from the action you invoked that allows the button’s appearance to change. For instance, if I have a button for my studio camera ‘scene’, a button for the Powerpoint presentation window ‘scene’, a button for a ‘scene’ in OBS Studio that contains both, program these buttons to place their view in the Preview slot in OBS, and when pressed they turn green. A separate button that pushes the preview into the output (program) window will, when pushed, turn the appropriate ‘scene’ button turns red. This is nice because I can glance at the Stream Deck and immediately see what is being broadcasted to my audience by the color of the button. (Alexa will take some programming to build a plug-in… there’s not one available yet.)

Note that with power comes effort… programming these buttons to do anything sophisticated can require some trial-and-error, and the documentation is not great. If you’re not technically-inclined enough to know how to configure and run a PC without calling for help, this is not the device for you unless you have a precocious teen gamer, a technical spouse or partner, or are willing to hire the neighborhood nerd for a few hours to help you get things running. Once you get the hang of it and understand the idiosyncracies, you’ll be able to do a lot of powerful things with it… basically controlling anything that you could with Alexa or your computer.

Really, this device is best-suited for the apps that are supported with Stream Deck-supplied plug-ins, and for more technically sophisticated users, the plug-ins available for the Companion app. It’s especially well-suited for programming a series of commands into one button press that might take someone a couple of minutes of dedicated time. True to its name, it is designed for people who are offering live video broadcasting, either via online streaming using Twitch, YouTube, etc., and that’s what almost all of the currently-available plug-ins support. The other plug-ins seem to be written by and for software developers who want to use it to help automate code development or look at the value of their stock options or crypto currencies while they work.

Hardware-wise, you have to deliberately press the buttons all of the way until they bottom out… a quick press often doesn’t trigger the action. This is something you learn quickly while interacting with the device. If you are in a hurry, you often have to go back and press the button again. Here, slow and steady wins the race.

Because of this, and the nature and state of available plug-ins for both the Stream Deck and Companion apps, I feel as if the Stream Deck ecosystem is still in its early days… a work in progress. It does what it does very well if you are willing to put up with the quirks of the button press, and if the supporting software applications and plug-ins have the functionality you need and you can figure them out on your own. Be prepared to invest some time and effort learning how to use it, otherwise it will likely sit in a storage bin. Should you buy it? Yes… if you are a one-man effort at streaming live video that requires quick, correct switching between video feeds… perhaps an online instructor, someone who is the producer/director for a church or a government agency or for events like concerts or trade shows, or a gamer streaming on Twitch or YouTube where live video from multiple sources along with text or other information needs to be easily controlled. If you’re just using Zoom for meetings, etc., it’s overkill. Or, if you’re technically capable, want to reduce a lot of complex automation (like turning on all of the gear in a home theater system, or switching between satellite and Blu-Ray is cumbersome), or automate repetitive PC tasks, this is the macro keyboard system to beat them all… if you can deal with the learning curve.

I’ll update this review in a couple of weeks, after I actually use it in a live training session… either happily, or angrily.

Questo prodotto è molto valido se si fa lo streamer, il conten creator o anche solo per essere utilizzato come accessorio dove mettere tutti i collegamenti in modo ordinato senza riempirsi il desktop.
onestamente fare una recensione qui risulta scomodo, tuttavia a dispetto del costo elevato, come purtroppo tutti i prezzi di Elgato, la qualità del prodotto è buona, per una cerchia ristretta di persone, il software è semplice e viene aggiornato frequentemente, le interazioni con varie applicazioni di terze parti sono molte.
se lavorate nel mondo dell intrattenimento digitale vi suggerisco di cercare recensioni del prodotto per una spiegazione approfondita.
tuttavia vi garantisco che ad esempio nello streaming semplifica di molto varie interazioni, sopperendo a mancanza di moderatori o persone che vi aiutino nella regia
e non solo

I can highly recommend this device, but I can also highly recommend LoupeDeck which is more feature rich.

Pros:
+ This is a great tool and simple to create new key shortcuts and add your own created pictures to the buttons.
+ You can create sub-levels of a new setup of buttons etc.
+ The size and amount of button works very well for me in e.g. Cubase and DaVinci.

Cons:
– The only thing I’m missing is mouse commands e.g. left/right click on a certain screen coordinate which I sometimes need. For the moment I use Auto Hot Key (AHK) to manage this and using Stream Deck to trigger AHK commands, but it is unnecessary messy to do so.

This is probably the best accessory/peripheral since the mouse. Seriously, I love it that much and I’m picky as hell. Sure, you’ll need to watch some youtube videos to learn a few tricks to do some cool things, but this is such an amazing time saver for me. I’m in geek heaven. Oh, and I don’t stream. At all. I DO use OBS Studio for Zoom/Teams meets and presentations, CBT training and so on. I use this to make video editing with Premiere Pro and photo editing in Lightroom MUCH faster. I got it working with Home Assistant and can control my lights, air conditioner, etc. This is just great tech and is too cool.