- What's up guys, Pete here from Gaming Careers
and in today's video,
we're looking at some brand new streaming tech.
Now, Elgato, the company behind the incredible popular
Stream Deck and Stream Deck Mini
have today released two new versions of their Stream Deck,
the Stream Deck XL and Stream Deck Mobile.
I have been lucky enough to have been able to use
and test both of these over the last couple of weeks
and we'll be breaking down my thoughts
and everything you need to know about them
in this video.
For those of you that are unaware, the Stream Deck
and the Stream Deck Mini are USB controllers
with individually customizable keys
that allow you to easily control your favorite tools
and platforms, making things like changing scenes,
launching media, switching camera angles,
tweaking lighting, adjusting audio, posting tweets.
Really, the possibilities are endless
as to what you can now control with a Stream Deck.
With the immense growth in popularity
that streaming has had over the last year,
it's not surprising that Elgato
has broadened its Stream Deck lineup
by adding a product at either end of the pricing spectrum,
a massive 32 key variant called the XL
and their new 15 key mobile app.
Let's start with the XL.
I think probably many people predicted
that Elgato would one day release a larger Stream Deck
just due to the number of streamers and creators
who are purchasing two or more of the original Stream Decks
just so that they could have more actions
at their fingertips.
The button layout on the XL is eight wide
and four high, giving you a whopping 32 keys
to customize and control.
In comparison, the original Stream Deck has 15 keys
and the Stream Deck Mini has six.
In the box, you'll also get a magnetic stand,
a USB-C to USB-A cable an a quick start guide.
The unit itself is quite large, it measures in
at 182 millimeters by 112 and 34 millimeters deep.
There's a new non-slip magnetic stand
which makes it easy to prop the XL up at and angle
as it locks into place using some magnets.
But it also caters for those of you
that don't want to use a stand,
prefer to have your Stream Deck lying flat
at a similar angle to your keyboard.
This is different from both previous versions
as the original Stream Deck had an adjustable stand
that allowed for a few different angels of stance
and the Mini came without an adjustable
or removable stand at all.
Another new thing is the detachable braided cable
that was not included in the previous versions.
Both the Stream Deck and the Mini had fixed plastic cables
which caused some issues for users
that wanted to have their PCs farther away from their desk
or maybe their Stream Deck on the opposite side
of their desk to their PC as the cable length was set.
With the XL you get a roughly five foot
or 150 centimeter cable, which is USB-C to USB-A.
So if you do ever need something longer,
you could just buy a different cable and use that.
Although there isn't technically any new functionality
that has been released with the Stream Deck XL,
there have been a lot of software updates
since the last video which I did last year
on the Stream Deck Mini.
These things are no longer just built for
and used by streamers.
Music producers, artists, editors, content creators,
people from all kinds of creative industries
are now using the Stream Deck as part of their workflow.
Elgato has even opened up an SDK,
allowing external developers
to build integrations for their Stream Deck.
So the amount of applications you can now control
is incredible.
Before we get into the pricing and availability,
let's take a quick look at Stream Deck Mobile.
So Stream Deck Mobile is an app
that brings all of the features of a Stream Deck
to your iPhone.
It has 15 customizable buttons,
so the same as the original Stream Deck,
and it connects to your PC wirelessly over WiFi.
Similar apps to this have existed for a little while.
In particular, I've talked about
the Streamlabs OBS Remote Control app
in a video before, which allows you to control
some of the scenes and sources and audio
and things like this for Streamlabs OBS.
I haven't seen any apps that have the same level
of functionality as this one.
You can literally do anything that you can do
on a physical Stream Deck with Stream Deck Mobile.
One of my first concerns when I heard about the app
was that it would feel quite finicky
to use since you're pressing on a screen
rather than on a physical button
and that's something I've definitely felt
when using these other apps that are available.
But it seems like Elgato has also thought about that
and have integrated a very slight haptic feedback
along with the visual feedback
to let you know that you've pressed a button.
Now the app is currently for iOS only
and there's been no announcement about an Android version,
which is obviously a bit of a shame,
especially for you Android users.
Hopefully if Stream Deck Mobile does really well
on the App Store, Elgato will consider
building it for Android as well.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the video,
this now builds out the Stream Deck family
to four products.
You have the original Stream Deck,
which usually retails for about $149,
you have the Stream Deck Mini,
which is usually about $99,
and then you have the two new ones.
So the Stream Deck XL is gonna be retailing
for just under $250 and the Stream Deck Mobile
is based on a subscription model
coming in at 2.99 per month or 24.99
for a full year of use.
So $250 for the XL, certainly not cheap.
It's a real investment and it's probably out of budget
for a lot of streamers out there.
I think Elgato has probably built this
more for the partner level streamers,
people who are already making some money
through their stream from subs and donations.
And would they be considering getting two individual
Stream Decks just to have more functionality
at their fingertips anyway?
If you were to get two Stream Decks,
that would set you back just shy of $300 for 30 keys,
so I think the pricing of $250 for 32 keys
does many sense based on the rest of their lineup.
The nice thing about having multiple options now
in the Stream Deck family is if an option is out of budget,
you can always just step down to the one below it
all the way down to now a mobile app,
which is just $25 a year
for all of that same functionality and control.
In terms of availability, the new Stream Deck XL
is available through Amazon
in all of the usual Amazon stores
where Elgato products were sold.
So if you use the link at the top of the description,
it should take you through to your local Amazon store
where hopefully the Stream Deck XL is in stock
for you to purchase if you'd like to.
Also, whenever I feature a clip of my Stream Deck,
I always get asked the question
as to where I got my icons from,
and of course it's from my friends over at Nerd or Die,
so I'll leave a link again near the top of the description
to a massive pack, I think it's nearly 200
different icons that you can download now for free
for your Stream Deck.
So as always, when a new product comes out
for the streaming market, I really wanna hear
what you guys have to say
about these two new Stream Deck options.
Does the Stream Deck XL appeal to you guys?
Massive 32 key variant,
but obviously quite high price point as well.
And now that there's a mobile version
that comes in at a really low price point
of $25 for a year, are any of you gonna be picking that up
and using that to improve the quality of your streams?
Let me know what you guys think,
I'm always keen to hear other opinions,
especially on a brand new product that's just come up.
And massive thanks as always to the Gaming Careers patrons
this month, people that keep the channel running,
allowing me to do this as my full time job
and keep creating these tutorials and reviews
and guides for you guys.
So a massive thanks to them and subscribers.
I'll see you in the next video.
Peace!
(low-fi beats)