 Back in March of 2017, Elgato released the Stream Deck, an utterly unique 15 key keypad with screens on each key, designed for live streaming. It's got integration with OBS, Twitch, Twitter, Windows, Elgato's own products, and in August 2017, they added Xsplit, allowing for us to finally use the Stream Deck for our weekly podcast, The WAN Show. But I rarely stream, so why is my Twitter feed full of requests to review this thing? I'll tell you why. Because they know I don't care what anything was designed to do. I care about what it can do. And so, as the king of macros, I'll be looking at this product from two angles. Its intended use, and how I use it. TunnelBear makes really simple privacy apps so people can enjoy a more open internet. To try TunnelBear free, go to tunnelbear.com slash ltt. Opening up the Stream Deck software for the first time, you'll be greeted by a bunch of actions on the right. Just drag them onto the buttons on the left, try them out in real life, and they all pretty much work exactly as you might expect. You can control your Twitch chat, post pre-written messages on Twitter, change scenes, sources, and mics in OBS and Xsplit, take screenshots, record your screen, and even record the last X minutes retroactively if you also have an Elgato capture card. Sweet. And there's a whole lot more. But you might be thinking, wait Taron, can't we already do all that stuff using keyboard shortcuts? Well, no, not all of it. For one thing, keyboard shortcuts aren't always easy to remember, and depending on your game, they can end up conflicting with other commands. Furthermore, because of the magic of API integrations, it can even do things like toggling slow mode in Twitch chat without you having to manually alt-tab to the chat window and position your cursor, and then alt-tab back to where you were. So the Stream Deck just makes it a lot easier to execute these commands when you're live streaming a game or whatever else. And I was also pretty impressed by the ease of the setup and configuration process. But let's go deeper. What if 15 actions isn't enough for you? Fear not. You can put actions in folders to fit up to 210 actions onto a single Stream Deck. Wait, did I say 210? I mean unlimited. A recent update allows you to nest folders inside of other folders. Dog. Anyway, what's the Stream Deck like to use while streaming? Not sure what to tell you without sounding repetitive. Assuming you've set everything up correctly, it works exactly as you'd expect. Also, the automatic dimming of inactive scenes and sources makes it really easy to tell what's going on just by glancing at the Stream Deck. It just works. So for serious streamers, the value is pretty clear, and that's been thoroughly covered by people who are a lot more into that scene. With that said, it wouldn't be a Terran video without a list of complaints and suggestions. So here we go. The current GUI doesn't make it obvious that you can right-click here to get more options. The web-based image creator is cool, but it requires you to save an image onto your computer before you can put it onto the Stream Deck, which adds an extra step. The integrated cord is too short. The concave keycaps can cause reflections, making the screens hard to read. There's significant parallax on the keys, which combined with the stand's limited adjustability means that finding a good viewing angle can be quite difficult. The stand flops around when you pick it up, and it also doesn't really work in portrait mode, which is also not supported in the software. One of my units suffered from image retention, which Elgato insists is rare, having never been a hardware issue. But I still wish there was an automatic sleep mode. I wish we had options for font size, color, and position, and simple background colors on the keys. I wish I could dynamically change a key's image and function based upon, say, an I&I file somewhere, as controlled by a script of my own making. I wish that multiple Stream Decks per computer were supported. And I wish that GIFs were supported, even though it would mostly just be used for fun. But despite all this, I still really like the Stream Deck, and I've been using it daily at work for several months now. But not for Twitch streaming. I use it for video editing and folder navigation. You may have seen my DIY 87 Macro Keyboard video a while ago. There have been several developments since then, and I have more macro keys on my desk than ever before. So the Stream Deck fits in perfectly. Its Windows integration means that you can assign websites, hotkeys, and even the direct opening of programs, scripts, or files, an extremely powerful feature in the right hands. And these are the right hands. Wink. So after painstakingly restructuring all of my AutoHotKey scripts to work in such a way that individual functions with parameters could be launched directly from single keys on the Stream Deck, I was able to consolidate my peripherals from this to this. And all of the code for that is on my GitHub linked below. By the way, I only did it that way because I literally ran out of key combinations, but you can probably just use the hotkey command and have that trigger a script. That's a lot more simple. Now, if $150 sounds too expensive, and you don't think you need all these features, you certainly could create a poor man's Stream Deck by binding some keyboard shortcuts onto a decent numpad like this one. And you could use AutoHotKey for application directing and or detection. You could also add Lua macros or interception to make it independent from the normal numpad. And then you could print out little images onto envelope stamps, cut them out, and paste them onto the keys. You'd end up with something that looks like this. And for only $17. But it's a real pain to get all of that working. So while it is more expensive, I'd definitely consider the Stream Deck worthwhile for productivity freaks, you guys know who you are, and serious streamers alike. I still wish it supported GIFs though. But you know what else doesn't support GIFs? The Mastrop exclusive Sennheiser HD 6XX headphones, currently available for only $200 with free shipping to the USA. These are based on the Sennheiser HD 650s, which are still widely considered to be the best headphones under $1000 by the audiophile community. They sound smooth and laid back with balanced midrange and a natural sounding bass. Sorry, I mean bass. There have been no adjustments to the sound signature from the HD 650 to the HD 6XX. The visual aesthetic has been updated to a deep midnight blue with black nameplates. They've got soft ear pads with elliptical ear cups that follow the ear and a detachable 6-foot cable. So go check them out on Mastrop at the link below.