Elgato Stream Deck Workflow Solutions for Creators, Streamers, & Broadcast

[00:00] Hello everybody. Thank you for joining

[00:01] us for another episode of Video Guys

[00:03] Live. It is Tuesday. It is about three

[00:05] o'clock Eastern. Uh today we are really

[00:08] excited to be joined in studio by Chris

[00:11] Bergos from Elgato,

[00:14] no longer at VizT. Uh Chris, how are you

[00:17] doing today?

[00:17] >> Uh I'm doing really well. We have a lot

[00:19] of cool things we're going to be going

[00:20] over, but thank you for having me in

[00:22] studio. It's uh always a unique

[00:24] experience to be working with and

[00:26] talking with people about what Elgato is

[00:28] doing, especially in the world of Stream

[00:29] Deck.

[00:30] >> Absolutely. So, Chris, why don't you

[00:33] tell us a little bit about Elgato

[00:35] because this is a first time that we're

[00:37] talking about Elgato on video guys.

[00:40] >> Yeah, so uh Elgato's origins really come

[00:42] out of the streamer and YouTuber space.

[00:44] Um these people were looking for a way

[00:47] to better control their live events,

[00:49] control their chat, add some graphics.

[00:51] So the stream deck was this really easy

[00:53] to deploy desktop ccentric panel of

[00:57] buttons just an ability to hit some keys

[00:59] and just control some stuff that you

[01:00] might traditionally do in your stream

[01:02] making it less difficult to admin

[01:06] moderate or in some instances just add a

[01:08] little flare to it. So that's where we

[01:09] sort of started that creator built but

[01:11] also really intuitive to use ideology

[01:15] and that grew into this entire line. Um,

[01:19] >> yeah,

[01:19] >> you know, we have products that are, uh,

[01:23] able to be used in racks. We recently,

[01:26] uh, released a module, so if anyone

[01:27] wants to make a custom build, uh, for a

[01:29] desktop table, uh, the Stream Deck Plus

[01:32] and some of the Stream Decks we're going

[01:33] to go over, the whole core ideology was

[01:35] always that they can all function easily

[01:38] and they all can be very powerful. So,

[01:39] despite whatever form factor they may be

[01:41] in, they all have that same DNA.

[01:44] >> Oh, 100%. and we've been using them

[01:46] throughout not just our studio but in

[01:48] our office and they are super easy to

[01:51] configure and like you said very

[01:52] powerful and you know just shaving as uh

[01:56] Brian said earlier shaving minutes off

[01:58] of workloads. So that is fantastic. So

[02:00] let's let's go one at a time and start

[02:03] about start with the Stream Deck Mark 2.

[02:06] >> The Mark 2 for me is the standard

[02:08] bearer. It was our first stream deck.

[02:10] It's a re a revision on it. says it's

[02:12] the Mark 2, but that same functionality

[02:14] with a little bit of updates to it. And

[02:16] it's really core 15 customizable keys,

[02:20] simple USB connection. We have these

[02:22] interchangeable face plates for people

[02:24] who want to really add a little bit of

[02:25] flare, personality to their setups, and

[02:27] easy to use software. And again, this is

[02:30] sort of like where the streamer started

[02:32] to get these multiple command setups. I

[02:34] want to be able to do something more

[02:36] sophisticated than what I might be able

[02:37] to with a mouse and keyboard. So the

[02:39] Mark I is the starter for Stream Deck

[02:42] >> 100%. And we will get into some of those

[02:44] software features at uh towards the end

[02:47] of the show.

[02:48] >> Yeah.

[02:48] >> So if we are starting with the Stream

[02:51] Deck Mark II, what's the next step up?

[02:53] >> So the XL is the powerhouse. We see

[02:55] these a lot in productions. We see these

[02:57] a lot in people who are using really

[02:59] sophisticated setups. I had an XL before

[03:01] joining Elgato on my computer setup

[03:04] because I wanted to be able to interact

[03:06] with all kinds of things. But at 32

[03:08] keys, you have a lot more actions at

[03:10] your fingertips. Still using that USBC

[03:12] connection. Something that isn't

[03:14] promoted here, but I do want to talk

[03:15] about the base. The XL sits on is

[03:18] actually a little bit more unique

[03:20] because of its size. You can fit in a

[03:22] different product called the network

[03:23] dock. And now you can network enable

[03:25] your XL. So that's a little cool piece

[03:27] that we don't talk about. But again,

[03:29] premium build with this heavy duty

[03:31] stand. And then same easy to use

[03:33] software. And we look at this again,

[03:35] especially in live events, guys. Doing

[03:36] live events, uh, houses of worship. You

[03:38] want something that's got all your

[03:39] buttons available, controlling multiple

[03:41] things, XL is your choice.

[03:43] >> You're talking about live events, and we

[03:45] do this live show every Tuesday at 3:00

[03:47] Eastern. So, thanks for watching. And

[03:49] actually over at our Tririccaster TC1

[03:52] Pro, we have a Stream Deck XL and Adam

[03:55] is able to change uh various things.

[03:58] Pull up our memes, pull up comps, uh

[04:01] switch inputs, be able to pull up our

[04:03] graphics. All of this is being run off

[04:05] of the Stream Deck XL.

[04:07] >> It's such a powerful tool to have and I

[04:09] think the beauty of it is you get those

[04:11] extra buttons. Again, it's it's for the

[04:13] power users, but it's just so cool to

[04:15] say, "Hey, I have a custom button. does

[04:16] like six things for me and I have the

[04:18] icon set and it's all ready to go.

[04:20] >> Perfect. And next up would be the Stream

[04:23] Deck Plus.

[04:24] >> So very different DNA on the Stream Deck

[04:28] Plus. So we looked at some of our people

[04:30] who are in the more creative space. So

[04:33] think of like your video editors, people

[04:35] using Photoshop and we took a different

[04:38] approach. So we have less keys here with

[04:39] only eight keys, but we have these four

[04:41] dials that can do multiple functions.

[04:44] Right above those dials is a touch strip

[04:45] that you can actually swipe through and

[04:47] change what those dials are doing. It's

[04:49] got the built-in stand so ready to stand

[04:51] up for your desktop. And same software,

[04:55] but something unique it does in this

[04:57] sort of world is the prompters. You can

[05:00] actually control the prompter speed with

[05:02] the Stream Deck Plus. And I think I we

[05:04] see a lot of people using the plus in

[05:06] way more different ways than we see our

[05:08] traditional production guys, but it's so

[05:10] intuitive that they get right behind it

[05:12] and they're doing something that they

[05:14] really needed to. And then one last

[05:15] little feature here is uh in the image

[05:17] itself is showing control over

[05:19] microphones and headsets. So you're sort

[05:21] of, you know, where your thoughts go is

[05:23] the limitation. Like how much can you

[05:24] do? Well, there's a lot that you can

[05:25] customize.

[05:26] >> Oh, 100%. And just because we were

[05:29] talking about how we use our Stream Deck

[05:31] XL, we actually have a Stream Deck Plus

[05:34] in our editing room and we have the

[05:37] Adobe Premiere plugin. And my favorite

[05:40] feature on that is being able to use

[05:42] those knobs to scrub through the

[05:44] timeline and be able to go frame by

[05:46] frame. You know, when I'm using the

[05:47] mouse, sometimes I I skip three or four

[05:50] frames on accident. So being able to,

[05:52] you know, really go fine-tune with those

[05:54] knobs and not even have to think about

[05:56] it. It becomes second nature at the end

[05:57] of the day.

[05:58] >> You're going to notice a lot and and

[06:00] different people are going to notice

[06:01] that once they start to use their stream

[06:02] deck, it just becomes an extension of

[06:03] making their life a little bit easier.

[06:05] And that's what I've always preached

[06:06] when I'm getting behind it. It's like,

[06:08] yes, I have my full knowledge and

[06:09] capability to do this stuff, but having

[06:11] more buttons easy. Also, if I need to

[06:13] like take a vacation, I have all the

[06:15] buttons here. Here's everything you need

[06:17] to know. This will get you 99% of the

[06:19] way there and that's all I care about.

[06:21] >> That's great. And we mentioned earlier

[06:24] at the top of the show that there is

[06:25] some software involved to be able to get

[06:28] these things up and running, right?

[06:30] >> Yes. So, Stream Deck software is free.

[06:32] Uh it's got a really simple to use UI.

[06:34] The goal is to allow for multiple

[06:36] actions on a single button press and we

[06:39] have a growing marketplace with all

[06:40] kinds of uh deep integrations. you

[06:42] talked about using it with Adobe, you

[06:45] know, um on our marketplace, you can

[06:47] probably find a plugin for free for just

[06:49] about anything. Um some of the software

[06:51] switchers out there have some some PTZ

[06:53] manufacturers, some devices, some uh

[06:56] meeting applications. It's really unique

[06:58] the kinds of things you can do. Social

[06:59] media apps you want to get out to Tik

[07:00] Tok, there's an application to use your

[07:02] Stream Deck to work with Tik Tok. So, I

[07:05] I very much say if you're going to get

[07:07] into Stream Deck, visit the marketplace,

[07:09] look at some stuff, and you'll be like,

[07:11] man, I could control that. And then

[07:12] start to sort of look and say, well, you

[07:15] know what? I'm doing something on a Zoom

[07:16] meeting pretty consistently, but I also

[07:18] need to update this file while I'm

[07:20] working. Uh maybe I'm controlling my

[07:23] camera specifically. Now I can use that

[07:25] stream deck to do all those things and

[07:26] I'm not like in the middle of the

[07:27] meeting like okay I gotta hit the share

[07:29] button and oh I have to share my second

[07:31] screen or like I have to do this window.

[07:33] Stream deck give you a single button to

[07:35] just make that all happen

[07:36] >> and because you have the ability to

[07:39] customize these things. You have not

[07:41] only multiple pages but you can say oh I

[07:43] only need these three features from

[07:45] Adobe and these five from teams and

[07:48] these three from you know the

[07:50] tririccaster or whatever. You can have

[07:52] just the buttons that you need from

[07:54] various programs on one page or you can

[07:56] have multiple pages and one page be set

[07:59] for a certain program.

[08:01] >> The other thing I'm going to notice and

[08:03] I think the video will play here is it's

[08:05] super easy to use the marketplace.

[08:06] You're going to find the app you want.

[08:08] You'll click get and it actually just

[08:10] pops open the Stream Deck software. So

[08:12] there's no sort of guessing. There's no

[08:14] understanding, hey, where did this

[08:15] install or do I have to go through this

[08:17] different file? the integrations are

[08:18] really tight and I do love that for

[08:21] people who are approaching stream deck

[08:22] and saying well is it for me if there's

[08:24] something on the marketplace it's for

[08:25] you because it's just going to make your

[08:27] life a little bit easier and we

[08:29] typically talk about production setups

[08:30] but I do think there's opportunities

[08:32] beyond that where you know its origins

[08:34] were not in a traditional production and

[08:36] there's just so much you can do with it.

[08:38] >> No absolutely.

[08:40] Next thing that I want to talk about is

[08:42] this thing uh over my left shoulder here

[08:45] and that is the Prompter XL which is

[08:48] shipping now. As you can see we have one

[08:50] here. Um can you tell us a little bit

[08:52] about the Prompter XL?

[08:53] >> Prompter XL is part of our new ideology

[08:57] because we're working with more

[08:58] professional setups. We know that there

[09:01] are things like podcasts, there are

[09:02] things like corporate events where

[09:03] someone needs to be able to read

[09:04] something particularly right. Maybe it's

[09:06] an ad read. Maybe there's something new

[09:08] that's happening at the uh

[09:10] infrastructure level. Maybe we have a

[09:12] new process we're going through. Well,

[09:13] the Prompter XL is at 15.6 inches. It's

[09:16] got that nice big full HD display. It's

[09:19] also got something that's a little

[09:20] interesting in that that monitor that

[09:22] gets reflected. It's actually magnetic.

[09:24] So, setup for this thing is painless.

[09:26] You put it together, pop the monitor on,

[09:28] and off of one USBC cable, you get

[09:31] power, you get image, and that control.

[09:34] So despite it looking like something

[09:36] that would cost significantly more, it's

[09:38] giving you a lot of what we do at

[09:40] Elgato, simplicity, ease of use, and

[09:42] that price point puts it in a really

[09:44] specific environment to say, man, maybe

[09:47] prompter wasn't something the thing I

[09:48] thought of before, but now I can get one

[09:50] and start to leverage it in any kind of

[09:52] setup I want to do.

[09:53] >> 100%. And just again, because we are

[09:56] using the products that we now carry,

[09:58] um, you know, a lot of these shows are

[10:00] live, but we do our product spotlights.

[10:02] We try to do one a month. Uh those are

[10:04] more scripted and this thing is already

[10:07] saving me time and effort. And on our

[10:10] next product spotlight, I will be

[10:11] looking right at the camera, not

[10:13] slightly to the left of the camera.

[10:15] >> It's so slick to use it. And one thing

[10:16] that is kind of really special with

[10:18] this, and this kind of goes to Elgato at

[10:21] a greater level, if you have a very

[10:22] powerful PC, you can enable AI voicing.

[10:26] So as you're talking, it will scroll to

[10:29] just follow along with you. You could

[10:30] also, like I said, use a stream deck

[10:32] plus and change the scroll as you want

[10:35] to. Uh, you can even mess with the

[10:36] opacity, which sometimes people will

[10:38] say, well, why would I do that? You can

[10:39] use the prompter to actually act as just

[10:41] another monitor. And so, we see people

[10:44] using this in meetings where they're

[10:45] actually have the teams or Zoom meeting

[10:47] up. So, they're maintaining that ey line

[10:49] like you would do in the read. And so, a

[10:50] lot of flexibility. And I think again,

[10:53] you put it in the right hands, you start

[10:54] to see like, oh man, there's all these

[10:55] cool things that you can do.

[10:56] >> 100%. And then the last thing that we

[10:59] want to talk about is one of the newer

[11:02] uh products to the Elgato line and that

[11:04] is the Stream Deck Studio. Can you tell

[11:06] us a little bit about the Stream Deck

[11:07] Studio?

[11:08] >> So we noticed that a lot of productions

[11:10] were using Stream Decks. Um and

[11:13] naturally we went back and said, well,

[11:15] we designed the Stream Decks for

[11:17] streamers. We probably want to go back

[11:19] and redesign our product for or make a

[11:22] new product for these broadcasters,

[11:24] these live events. And so the Stream

[11:26] Deck Studio is that sort of product that

[11:28] covers that. It's easy to set up. It's

[11:31] got the responsiveness you need and it's

[11:33] got that enterprisegrade reliability.

[11:34] And one of the pre-shows we were

[11:36] actually as you guys were operating the

[11:38] switcher, it was just popping along with

[11:40] you guys that you could then hit the

[11:41] buttons on the stream deck studio and

[11:42] then control the switcher. It's it's

[11:44] just super easy to leverage. So you

[11:46] know, uh let's just you know, we talked

[11:48] about some of the stuff where it's

[11:49] versatility. It's also IP first. So it's

[11:53] PoE. Yep.

[11:54] >> So set up for this is a breeze. I mean

[11:56] over here on our setup in front of us,

[11:57] one cable.

[11:58] >> One cable. That's it.

[11:59] >> Uh we can streamline the workflows a

[12:01] little bit differently than what we do

[12:02] on the XL's and the MK is. But I think

[12:05] the coolest part is how scalable this

[12:06] guy is.

[12:07] >> I can get a bunch of Stream Deck studios

[12:09] operating different elements of my

[12:11] environment, have them at different

[12:12] stations and all contributing to this

[12:14] greater production. Or I could have them

[12:16] doing really unique things like I could

[12:18] have one behind the corporate boardroom,

[12:20] punch in a couple of things, change

[12:22] what's on the displays, reset the pretz

[12:24] cameras. So there's a lot of cool things

[12:26] that I think studio starts to enable.

[12:29] And because it's rack mountable, things

[12:31] get a little bit interesting. I do think

[12:32] people who are looking at it from

[12:34] broadcasting, looking at it from a live

[12:35] events or corporate AV space, this is

[12:37] actually the stream deck that may be

[12:39] powering their productions.

[12:41] >> Absolutely. As you can see, we have one

[12:43] here and we're going to be continuing to

[12:45] play with that as well.

[12:47] >> So, rack mount form factor, beautiful

[12:50] setup, easy to get in there. The 19inch

[12:52] rack mount,

[12:53] >> 32 keys, so customization. Uh, in this

[12:56] instance, we're showcasing uh something

[12:59] more like a router panel might look

[13:00] like. So, again, starting to think

[13:02] differently from where we're coming from

[13:03] in our origins.

[13:05] These two dual multi-function encoders

[13:08] are very specific to expanding

[13:12] workloads. Y

[13:13] >> so first and foremost you can dial them

[13:15] in swift go up and uh back and forward.

[13:18] You can do something like setting up

[13:19] multiple profiles or so a given stream

[13:21] deck studio you can go through and say

[13:23] hey I'm going for my morning show to my

[13:24] afternoon show. Twist the knob afternoon

[13:27] show is ready. You can actually push the

[13:29] buttons in to get access to different

[13:31] layers. So, if I wanted to, let's just

[13:33] say have PTZ cameras one to two and then

[13:35] push in have three and four, do

[13:37] something like that. Um, and it's

[13:39] interesting how much you can tweak.

[13:41] >> There's a whole color range on just the

[13:43] dial. So, just, you know, we give you

[13:46] that really deep level of customization.

[13:49] This one's probably going to be a little

[13:50] weird, but it's actually one of the cool

[13:52] reasons that when I joined Elgato, I was

[13:54] like, "Yeah, this is different." So, we

[13:56] have an NFC reader on the studio. And

[13:59] you might be thinking, well, Chris, why

[14:01] do I need NFC reader?

[14:03] If you're thinking about a larger scale

[14:05] organization or something where we're

[14:06] going to have multiple setups and maybe

[14:08] have different operators, well, my

[14:10] engineer could go in, tap the Stream

[14:12] Deck Studio with his NFC card, open up

[14:14] his configuration, make his changes.

[14:17] Okay, now we're ready for the next

[14:18] operator, tap the NFC card again, and

[14:20] now that's locked, and the operator

[14:22] can't interfere with anyone else's show.

[14:24] Alternatively, it could have different

[14:26] people at different positions tap into

[14:28] the studio and gain access. Let's just

[14:30] say I'm at a live event, right? I have

[14:31] an engineering station. Maybe I have a

[14:33] TD using one. Maybe my lighting director

[14:36] might be incorporating one because they

[14:37] maybe want to trigger different setups

[14:39] of the lighting. Or maybe someone in the

[14:40] back at the processor doing the LED

[14:42] work. All of these guys could have their

[14:44] positions, tap in, and now they're ready

[14:46] to go. And I didn't have to pre-program

[14:48] a bunch. I sent the the studios to

[14:51] different locations and everyone's ready

[14:52] to go. It's uh it's interesting because

[14:54] our designers were like why don't they

[14:56] do more of this and I think the idea is

[14:59] from our professional spaces is well we

[15:01] just teach the guys not to do that but

[15:03] now you get access to a whole different

[15:04] group of operators at different skill

[15:06] levels.

[15:06] >> No absolutely the the first thing that

[15:08] comes to my mind is specifically like a

[15:10] house of worship. You know you mentioned

[15:12] your engineers come in and then you

[15:14] don't want your volunteers to

[15:16] accidentally change something. So being

[15:19] able to lock out certain functionality I

[15:21] think is is is great. There the there

[15:24] are other products that do uh similar

[15:27] things with like PTZ controllers so you

[15:29] can't accidentally change the exposure

[15:31] but you can still move the camera.

[15:33] >> And the beautiful part of what we do

[15:34] with Stream Deck is that you can control

[15:36] all that stuff.

[15:36] >> And so you could pop in and tag like you

[15:38] said or maybe I tag for the easy

[15:40] profile.

[15:40] >> Hey, I'm not in. We're going to give

[15:42] them the four buttons and the stream

[15:43] button.

[15:44] >> Yep.

[15:45] Last but not least, we talk about

[15:47] expanding and interacting with different

[15:48] elements. It has a USBC port right on

[15:51] the front of it, which if you have any

[15:53] of the other stream decks, you could

[15:54] actually plug in, get power, and now be

[15:56] able to run that stream deck as well as

[15:58] part of your setup. So, you know, we're

[16:00] even thinking about people who are

[16:02] coming from our traditional space. Well,

[16:03] how would they want to incorporate it? I

[16:05] still love my stream deck. Still love my

[16:06] XL. Cool. I can also get the studio and

[16:08] sort of interact with it.

[16:10] >> That's great.

[16:12] Well, Chris, thank you so much for

[16:14] coming on to the show. As you can tell,

[16:16] there is a lot of great things that you

[16:18] can do with the stream decks, and there

[16:20] really is a stream deck for every kind

[16:22] of workflow out there. Uh, Chris, as

[16:24] always, whenever we have a guest on our

[16:26] show, especially when it's Chris Bergos,

[16:28] I mean, come on. Um, we like to give

[16:30] them the final word. Is there anything

[16:31] that you'd like to say to our viewers?

[16:34] Stream Deck and Elgato are in a unique

[16:36] space where we're going to be doing more

[16:39] than ever before. And I think it's

[16:40] important that we state this very

[16:42] firmly. We are making commitments to the

[16:44] professional market and still sticking

[16:46] with our streamer core. So you're going

[16:48] to be seeing a lot of different products

[16:50] coming at us coming from us that you

[16:52] might say, "Oh, cool. I'll need this or

[16:53] I might have thought about that." And

[16:55] just remember that ease of functionality

[16:56] out of the box is always going to be

[16:58] with us. So, I hope that sort of

[17:01] instills that I or you will be looking

[17:03] at the next stream deck that's coming

[17:05] out or getting involved with something

[17:06] we currently have.

[17:07] >> All right, Chris, thank you so much for

[17:09] joining us today. Um, if you haven't

[17:12] already, please like and subscribe to

[17:14] Video Guys or follow us on Facebook and

[17:17] we'll see you next Tuesday at 3 o'clock

[17:19] Eastern. Thanks.

[17:23] >> Video Guys is available Monday through

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