NEW STREAM DECK TIME! NEW STREAM DECK TIME! I bet it has like 50 buttons or some dials
or sliders or footpedals or a brain control interface, I bet it's aw- oh. This is just a
revision of the OG Stream Deck. You know what? I'm totally fine with that. But is a
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Elgato had EIGHT big announcements this week regarding new products, resources and
tools for streamers. I'm covering them all in depth with a multitude of videos both
already up and coming soon on my channel, so make sure you hit the subscribe and
notification buttons so you can stay informed. This is the Elgato Stream Deck. The new one.
The Stream Deck mk. 2. This is a slot-in replacement for the original Stream Deck -
a refresh that breathes a little quality of life into the product without changing it too
much or increasing its price. Elgato did the same thing with the Cam Link 4K as a slot-in
upgrade to the original Cam Link listing. If you aren't familiar with the Stream Deck,
it's a powerful tool for streamers and content creators, or anyone who wants more automation
or control over your system. On the surface, it's a macro keypad - which you can make with
any keyboard if you like - but it has a ton of direct integrations with specific programs
and services, plugins that expand that wildly, and cool widgets for displaying
system stats and other things. The physical thing that stands the Stream Deck
out from general macro keypad options is the LCD screen behind the keys. Having built my
own macro keyboards for a few years prior to the Stream Deck, having instant icon
changes - without printing them out and taping over the keys - as well as different visual
states to indicate when a toggle is on or off, PLUS having infinite layers through pages and
folder nesting is just... so much better to use. The Stream Deck Mk.2 now has a detachable
USB C cable with a right-angle cable included in the box. This is a huge
improvement as the original model had a hilariously short cable that was constantly a
problem to route properly - and something that was addressed with a longer cable on the Stream
Deck Mini and with a detachable USB C cable on the XL. You get a longer cable in the
box and the option to bring your own. The original, floppy stand has been
replaced with a fixed-angle stand like the other two Stream Deck models.
This is a better stand overall, but will be a disappointment for those who
actually preferred the adjustable angles. I honestly had no major gripes with the original
stand and have my other Stream Decks mounted with these cool custom clamps anyway. Link below
- though these aren't revised for the Mk.2 yet. The new Stream Deck also has
a detachable faceplate. You can order from a set of pre-made (and an
ideally continuously growing collection) set of designs from Elgato's website, or just
pull yours off and paint or decal it up to make it yours. I'm all about customization
so I absolutely love this decision. I haven't figured out exactly how I want mine to look
yet, but I'm *very* excited to get one made. A side effect of having the removeable faceplate
is that you can actually strip the Stream Deck Mk.2 down to just its brain: the buttons and the
mainboard for them. This produces a MUCH smaller Stream Deck, which could then be embedded in
custom projects a lot easier - pretty neat. Comparing the new Stream Deck to the originals
is a tad misleading if you're a long-time owner. At a first glance, the new Stream Deck gets
significantly brighter and seems a bit more clear at first. However, this is due to age and
wear. I leave my Stream Decks on pretty much 24/7 and have for years. Elgato actually introduced a
screensaver and sleep mode to help deal with this. If I open up an original Stream Deck that
was sealed and unused until now - yes, I consider the Stream Deck essential enough that
I keep unused ones around for whenever I get inspiration to build something - comparing
the unused Stream Deck to the new one, they are identical in brightness,
clarity, color temperature, etc. The same applies to the button feel, too. Newer
Stream Decks feel a bit more clicky than ones that have been used a long time, but the new one is
still the same screen and buttons as the old one. But otherwise, this is the same as the
original Stream Deck. I really respect the decision to do it this way: It's an
upgrade over the previous product in terms of workflow for those who are buying it new,
but they aren't *really* trying to upsell anyone who already owns a Stream Deck and
convince them they have to buy this new one. This also makes it clear just how solid of
a product the original Stream Deck was. I was SO hyped when it first released due to
the potential I saw in it, and they have completely revamped the software, injected it
with a ton of functionality and customization, and so many streamers and other content
creators - even on the bigger broadcast and production level - have come
to rely on it for their workflow. There's a weird idea that goes around about gear
that once a streaming product has been out for a few years it's "old and outdated". But that's
incorrect. That's not how gear works at all. If you go on any film set, go behind the scenes
of any broadcast production, photography gig, radio studio, etc. - you will see pretty much
ONLY gear that has been out for a few years, some of it likely even decades. Cheap, unsupported
gear gets outdated. Gear worth buying *matures.* There's a HUGE difference. Many of the best
microphones used today have been based on designs as old as I am. The lights you see on set are
usually staples that were established years ago, and many professionals' lens kits are decades old. Hell, audio mixing boards are
often kept around for... ever. Had the Stream Deck been released as it was
in 2017 and had no further support or changes to it or the software, yes
it would have probably become outdated. Competition would have
made things that were better or cheaper and Elgato's little toy would have
become irrelevant. But that didn't happen. The software continued to get updated with
quality of life improvements, new features, new integrations, plugin API, customization, and
so on. And where Elgato has failed to deliver what someone wants, various communities
have stepped up to add even more to its offering: From unofficial Linux
support, to full macro and hotkey packages for major production apps like
Adobe Creative Cloud and DaVinci Resolve via SlideShowFX, to control for dozens of
high-end professional gear companies with BitFocus Companion. And again, all the plugins
being developed by genius minds like BarRaider. While I fell in love with the Stream Deck in 2017
and knew its potential would be much bigger than it was delivering at the time, it's still shocking
to see how far its come since launch. If anything, I think there were reasonable arguments in
favor of "holding off" on buying a Stream Deck originally - much like I posed about the AVerMedia
Live Streamer NEXUS recently - that are no longer a concern. There's never been a better time to
buy a Stream Deck. The platform and software are in a better place than they've ever been,
and there's just so much functionality here. This is similar to whenever Linus kits out
the LTT editor's den with hardware upgrades: He specifically doesn't choose the latest
and greatest because he wants the most stable and mature platforms for his daily grind
editors to get the most work done - gear like this which has matured more will continue
to be a good value, even multiple years later. I think this poor mindset runs rampant
in the streaming scene because of the inherently toxic affect streaming viewership
has on gaming in the first place. The whole idea of if a game doesn't have enough "hype"
on Twitch, it's a "dead game" and games moving towards drip-feed content release cycles to
keep streamers and stream viewers glued to it more has had a very frustrating
impact on the gaming industry overall, and I really don't want to see that applied
to tech. Something doesn't have to have a new hype-building campaign every few months.
The Stream Deck isn't "dead" or "irrelevant" because there isn't new hype around it 24/7. Tens
of thousands of people (or more, I have no idea) use them in their setups - often multiple -
for all sorts of work, streaming-related or not completing hundreds of millions of actions per
month - and just don't have a reason to constantly hype up the tools they use. They're just
tools. Gear is not a lifestyle or a philosophy. The same can be said for the GoXLR -
which is still acting as a work horse for tons of creators - and many other products. There is competition to the Stream Deck, however.
Touch Portal lets you use any phone or tablet you own - for free to start with - and seems to be
getting more and more integrations as they can. StreamLabs has a mobile-specific
control deck app for mobile. Elgato themselves have a Stream Deck
for mobile app, though it's more limited than Touch Portal. Plus, general Websockets
control of OBS allows for so much. Should you buy a Stream Deck in 2021? Probably.
If it's not in your budget right now or you're not sure you'd actually get use out of
it, I'd say start with something like the free run of Touch Portal and see
how useful it can be in your workflow and decide from there. If you've just been
on the fence, I'd say 100% go for it. It's in the best place it's ever been and this new
version is a nice little improvement to make it more worthwhile. I have a whole playlist of Stream
Deck content linked below if you need some ideas. Product links will be down there, too, as well
as our merch. Hit the like button if you enjoyed, come get help with your stream or chat about nerdy
tech on our Discord and remember: Be Kind, Rewind.
