Maximize Productivity with Elgato Stream Deck! (Review & How To)

[00:00] This is the Elgato Stream Deck,

[00:02] and it is hands down the

[00:03] best accessory you can buy.

[00:05] The possibilities are only

[00:07] limited by your creativity.

[00:09] So let's check this thing out,

[00:11] give you some thoughts or

[00:12] ideas on how you could use this

[00:14] and how you can even get

[00:16] a Stream Deck for free.

[00:18] Hey there, macro lover,

[00:19] it's Brian from Accessify.

[00:20] And on this channel, we

[00:21] do unboxings, reviews,

[00:23] and much more of

[00:24] accessories for your tech.

[00:26] So if any of that

[00:27] interests you, you know what to do.

[00:29] So back in 2017, Elgato

[00:31] created the Stream Deck,

[00:32] and it was originally

[00:33] targeted for streamers

[00:34] to automate basic tasks for

[00:36] controlling their streams.

[00:38] But now it's 2023,

[00:39] and it's become so much

[00:41] more than we ever thought.

[00:42] Now we wanna use it to

[00:43] improve your workflow

[00:45] like it did for me.

[00:46] Now there are five

[00:47] models of the Stream Deck

[00:48] that you could buy right now.

[00:50] There's the Stream

[00:50] Deck Mini, the Mark II,

[00:53] the XL, the Foot

[00:54] pedal, and the newer Plus

[00:55] with a bunch of buttons,

[00:57] a nice little touchscreen,

[00:58] and four rotatable knobs.

[01:00] But today we are gonna talk about the

[01:01] version that I have,

[01:02] which is the 15 key Mark II,

[01:05] which I think is the

[01:05] best of size and function.

[01:08] Now it comes in two

[01:09] colors, which are black or white,

[01:11] and you even have replaceable face plates

[01:13] so you could personalize

[01:14] your Stream Deck to your liking.

[01:16] From what I understand, the Mark II

[01:17] is actually the only

[01:18] model in the whole lineup

[01:19] that has these face

[01:20] plates that you could swap out.

[01:22] I don't even think the Mini or even the

[01:24] XL have this option.

[01:26] So if you really want customization,

[01:28] the Mark II is where it's at.

[01:30] The Stream Deck comes

[01:30] in an all plastic finish

[01:32] with a decently big rubber anti-slip

[01:34] surface at the bottom.

[01:35] Now build quality feels very good

[01:37] and I have no complaints here.

[01:39] At the bottom you

[01:40] will find the USB-C port

[01:42] that's used to provide power

[01:43] and data to your Stream Deck.

[01:45] So yep, no external power

[01:47] bricks here, thank goodness.

[01:50] Included also is a

[01:51] stand to change the angle

[01:52] of your Stream Deck if you choose.

[01:54] And unfortunately with the Mark II,

[01:56] you only get two angles to choose from,

[01:59] which kind of stinks

[01:59] since the Mark I had a stand

[02:01] which allowed you to have

[02:02] multiple angles to choose from.

[02:04] Each LCD screen has a

[02:06] resolution of 72 by 72 pixels,

[02:09] but the XL version actually has 96 by 96.

[02:13] I'm not sure why

[02:13] there's a higher resolution

[02:15] in the XL model.

[02:16] If you know, let me

[02:17] know in the comments below,

[02:19] but kind of wish I saw that in the Mini

[02:21] and the Mark II models.

[02:23] I think that'd be really cool to see.

[02:24] To configure your Stream Deck,

[02:25] you will need to download

[02:26] Elgato's Stream Deck software

[02:28] on your computer and then

[02:29] have it run in the background.

[02:31] But once that's done,

[02:32] you can now start

[02:32] configuring your Stream Deck

[02:34] to your liking.

[02:35] But what are some of the

[02:36] things that we can do with this?

[02:38] Well, honestly, you can

[02:39] make it as simple or as complex

[02:41] as you want it to be, and

[02:42] that's the beauty of it.

[02:43] But to unlock more functionality,

[02:45] you can use the Stream Deck plugin store

[02:47] built into the software

[02:49] to add on different plugins

[02:50] to interact with

[02:51] different hardware and software.

[02:53] So let's talk about just some of the ways

[02:55] that you can use this for yourself.

[02:58] The first way you can use

[02:58] this is for creating macros

[03:00] for photo or video editing.

[03:02] Now for me, I do video for a living,

[03:04] and I use DaVinci

[03:05] Resolve as my editing software.

[03:07] And I've been slowly

[03:08] creating buttons on my Stream Deck

[03:10] for my most used keyboard keys

[03:12] to have quick and easy editing.

[03:14] I just use the keyboard

[03:15] customization settings in Resolve

[03:17] and then assign a hotkey

[03:18] button to whatever I need.

[03:20] For example, let's say

[03:21] cutting a video clip in a timeline.

[03:23] You can also use the same

[03:25] method for Adobe Lightroom.

[03:26] Just use hotkeys to

[03:27] make small or big changes

[03:29] to your photos, or even use

[03:31] a button to quickly add a LUT

[03:33] to your photo for faster editing.

[03:35] The second way you can use

[03:36] this is as a software engineer.

[03:38] Now, I know nothing about coding,

[03:41] but just in the Stream

[03:42] Deck store alone are ways

[03:43] for you to interact with

[03:44] Microsoft Visual Studio Code,

[03:47] Apple's Xcode, Unity

[03:48] Engine, and even JetBrains IDE.

[03:51] So maybe you want some

[03:52] simple debugging actions

[03:53] starting or stopping your code,

[03:55] whatever it may be, that's a possibility.

[03:58] Third way you can use this

[03:59] is to control your smart home.

[04:01] And with Home Assistant being the best

[04:02] smart home software,

[04:04] this is a no-brainer.

[04:06] You can control

[04:07] lights, turn on smart plugs.

[04:09] And honestly, if you can control

[04:10] something on Home Assistant,

[04:12] you can control it on your Stream Deck.

[04:15] Now, Homebridge is here too as well

[04:16] for people that may have

[04:17] HomeKit focused smart homes

[04:19] like myself, so I'm glad to

[04:21] see this as a secondary option.

[04:23] Fourth way I could see using this,

[04:24] if you do a lot of business work,

[04:26] if your business uses Zoom

[04:27] or Microsoft Teams often,

[04:29] you can have a plugin called MuteDeck,

[04:30] which then you can control your webcam,

[04:32] turning it on and off,

[04:33] mute your microphone,

[04:35] leave a meeting, whatever you want.

[04:37] There are also plugins to control

[04:38] Microsoft Powerpoint,

[04:40] Apple Keynote, if you do

[04:41] a lot of presentations,

[04:42] update your Slack status.

[04:44] And if you use iCAL, you can

[04:46] even have your deck display

[04:47] how long until your next meeting.

[04:49] Finally, this is the

[04:50] best third-party application

[04:53] you can get and it's called Companion.

[04:55] Now, this allows you to

[04:56] control a massive list

[04:58] of hardware and software

[05:00] and how it all communicates

[05:01] together to create

[05:02] literally the ultimate workflow.

[05:05] I mean, check this out,

[05:06] this Stream Deck controls

[05:07] an ATEM video switcher from Blackmagic.

[05:09] And these Stream

[05:10] Decks are working together

[05:11] to fire ProPresenter slides

[05:13] and give useful information

[05:15] on how long videos have before ending

[05:17] for someone controlling a live stream.

[05:19] Your Stream Deck can control a whole

[05:22] audio mixing console.

[05:24] What?

[05:25] There are some things you

[05:26] will need to do to set this up,

[05:28] but I'll leave the

[05:28] Bitfocus Companion website

[05:30] in the video

[05:31] description below for instructions

[05:32] on how to set this up.

[05:34] But you don't even need a Stream Deck

[05:35] to actually make that stuff work.

[05:38] If you can access a

[05:39] webpage, you can use Companion.

[05:41] Now, like I mentioned in the beginning,

[05:42] do you want a Stream Deck for free?

[05:45] Well, we're gonna be

[05:46] using the application

[05:47] from Elgato called Stream Deck Mobile.

[05:49] And as of June 27th,

[05:51] 2023, Stream Deck Mobile

[05:52] gives you six Stream Deck buttons

[05:54] completely for free.

[05:56] That's having a

[05:57] Stream Deck Mini for free,

[05:59] heck, even with full

[06:00] wireless connectivity.

[06:02] Now, like the name

[06:03] implies, you will need to use

[06:04] a mobile device for this to work.

[06:05] So if you have a spare

[06:06] phone or tablet lying around,

[06:08] this will be ideal.

[06:09] But you could still

[06:10] use your current device

[06:11] if that's all you have.

[06:13] Download the Elgato Stream Deck software

[06:15] and I'll leave a link

[06:16] in the video description

[06:16] that will take you directly there.

[06:18] Then download the Stream Deck

[06:20] mobile app on your app store

[06:22] and follow the

[06:23] instructions on how to pair.

[06:25] And now you have six

[06:26] completely free buttons to use.

[06:28] There's also the Pro Mobile subscription

[06:30] that gives you up to 64

[06:32] keys and some features

[06:34] that aren't even possible

[06:35] with the regular Stream Deck

[06:36] for just $25 a year.

[06:38] If you were to buy two Stream Deck XLs,

[06:40] which would give you the 64 keys,

[06:43] it would take you 20

[06:45] years before you reach

[06:46] the full retail price of

[06:48] both of those XLs combined.

[06:51] That's insane.

[06:52] As you could see, I

[06:53] believe the Stream Deck

[06:54] is one of the best

[06:56] accessories that you can own

[06:58] and nothing is

[06:58] stopping you from being able

[06:59] to use the Stream Deck to

[07:01] fully become more productive.

[07:03] Now, the Mark II model

[07:04] we talked about today

[07:05] is currently $130 at the

[07:07] time of this recording.

[07:08] But there are other

[07:09] models of the Stream Deck

[07:10] that you can buy, so go down to the link

[07:12] in the video description and I'll have

[07:14] all of those down there

[07:15] if you're interested.

[07:16] Now, if you have some more free time,

[07:17] I recommend you watch this

[07:19] video that I just put on your

[07:20] screen for your

[07:21] convenience and I'll see you later.

[07:23] Deuces.