Streaming content online has never been more popular than it is now, from YouTube to Twitch there are all kinds of creators around with interesting streams across a wide spectrum of interests. With that gold rush comes plenty of people selling figurative shovels as well, with audio mixing gear, high-quality web cams, and dedicated devices for controlling all of this technology. Often these devices take the form of a tablet-like device, but [Lenochxd] thinks that any tablet ought to be able to perform this task without needing dedicated, often proprietary, hardware.
The solution offered here is called WebDeck, an application written in Flask that turns essentially any device with a broswer into a stream control device. Of course it helps to have a touch screen as well, but an abundance of tablets and smartphones in the world makes this a non-issue. With the software running on the host computer, the streamer can control various aspects of that computer remotely by scanning a QR code which opens a browser window with all of the controls accessible from within. It has support for VLC, OBS Studio, and Spotify as well which covers the bases for plenty of streaming needs.
Currently the host software only runs on Windows, but [Lenochxd] hopes to have MacOS and Linux versions available soon. We’re always in favor of any device that uses existing technology and also avoids proprietary hardware and software. Hopefully that’s a recipe to avoid planned obsolescence and unnecessary production. If you prefer a version with a little bit of tactile feedback, though, we’ve seen other decks which add physical buttons for quick control of the stream.
“Streaming content online has never been more popular than it is now…”
Not for me – I just cancelled my last streaming subscription. Streaming is Waaay too expensive and I am sick and tired worrying about hitting the Comcast/Xfinity “10G” DOCSIS-HFC subscription data-cap. I have no other option – in my area Comcast/Xfinity cable has a monopoly.
This is about streaming content as a creator, not a consumer.
This is about livestreaming not video-on-demand.
I don’t stream, or have a EweTube or Dis-Chord channel, etc. But I do love my Elgato StreamDeck and have macros set up for a multitude of applications. I just wish they would realize it has a wide market potential beyond the streamer and gamer crowd and bake in support for more apps like Office, Photoshop, CAD, etc. While a cheaper non-proprietary tablet would be nice, I like the distinct tactile buttons of the StreamDeck so still worth the extra money for me.
There are ways to use a midi controller to do macro commands.
Midi has been a thing for so long that there is a ton of cheap commodity hardware available.
And, the best part is that you don’t HAVE to worry about whether a $10 keyboard is a crappy instrument when you are just using the keys as macro/stream deck buttons.
I stay away from twitch/discord. I host a webRTC chatroom on my raspberry pi where bandwidth is free.
For OBS with homies and a few security cams. There’s a quiet revolution happening in your browser.. its just doesn’t have any money behind it lol.
https://wintermute.nonroutable.net/
So it’s MacroDeck?
MacroDeck needs you to install an app on your phone, and webdeck is just web
I threw together this “shitdeck” application using Autoit a while back.
https://github.com/mmiscool/ShitDeck
It runs a web server in auto it and presents the user with an array of customization icons that trigger specific macro functionality.
I use Sammi and Mixitup and OBS mainly.
Why not just use a MIDI controller?
OBS has a plugin to support MIDI control.
Autohotkey can also run macros from MIDI.
There are even ways to send/use MIDI over a network.
And there are free open source programs for every normal OS that can send MIDI commands.
It’s almost like MIDI has already been doing everything people use a stream deck for…
A web interface streamdeck is cool.
But the same hardware could ALREADY be used, and in far more ways.