Published , by Charles Singletary Jr
Published , by Charles Singletary Jr
If you've even only lightly dabbled in livestreaming, chances are you're familiar with Elgato. At CES 2019, where tons of companies are sharing new products and services, Elgato is showing off a collection of both that can make life easier for content creators. Screen link opens up the door for creators that want to share mobile gameplay or camera footage, the Key Light is an LED panel that clamps to your desk, Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock lets creators take advantage of the powerful port on Macs or PCs, and Stream Deck SDK allows savvy types to create custom actions for the Elgato Stream Deck.
Lighting either is a concern or will be one as you work to improve your setup if you're a content creator. Elgato is regularly trying to address issues creators run into by offering up first-party products instead of pointing them toward third-party solutions and the Key Light is another effort in that arena. This LED light panel wireless connects to a PC or Mac and its brightness and warmth can be controlled via the Elgato Control Center app or Stream Deck. It shines with 80 OSRAM LEDs that output to 2500 lumens with "practically no heat."
Mobile livestreaming and capture is growing, which makes perfect sense considering the increasing quality of mobile games and society's dependence on smartphones and tablets. Screen Link is Elgato's solution for those that want to put their iOS devices to work. Screen Link connects the mobile device to the desktop computer, allowing the phone to utilize OBS Studio and Streamlabs OBS or to be used as a wireless camera. It's a free download and allows fifteen minutes of streaming per session. There's an option to upgrade to Screen Link Pro for $9.99 (one-time purchase) coming soon.
The Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock is equipped with 2x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C ports, 2x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type A ports, 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports, DisplayPort 1.2, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headset and audio jack so you can streamline your cable hookups for your stream and content creation station. Here's a breakdown of the Stream Deck SDK addition to 4.0, taken from a press release:
Since launching the popular broadcast controller in May 2017, Elgato has continued to integrate an ever-growing number of apps and platforms into its software, but Stream Deck SDK opens up boundless possibilities. Available immediately as part of Stream Deck’s free 4.0 update, now anyone can develop custom actions for Stream Deck and Stream Deck Mini, giving them vastly increased capabilities limited only by the community’s imagination. Elgato is proud to launch Stream Deck SDK with five partners: NewBlueFX, Voicemod, StreamElements, Soundflow and vMix. All users can download plugins developed by these partners starting today, with many more on the way soon.
The Elgato Key Light and Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock are available right now from any retailers that carry the company's products. The Stream Deck SDK is available right now via the 4.0 software update and Screen Link is available right now on the Apple App Store. Stay tuned to Shacknews for additional updates.