From Streamers to Studio Racks: How the Stream Deck Became a Serious AV Control Tool

For years, the Elgato Stream Deck was pigeon-holed as a gadget for gamers and live streamers. Custom buttons, flashy icons, Twitch integrations – useful, yes, but firmly associated with bedrooms, not broadcast racks.

That perception is now outdated.

Over the last few years, the Stream Deck – particularly the Stream Deck XL – has quietly become one of the most flexible and widely adopted control surfaces in the professional audiovisual industry. Broadcast engineers, lighting designers, event technicians and stage managers are no longer asking if it belongs in a professional workflow, but where it should live in the rack.

The Real Turning Point: Software, Not Hardware

The Stream Deck’s evolution was not driven by a hardware refresh. The buttons were always solid. The screen was always clear. What changed was integration.

The arrival and rapid adoption of Bitfocus Companion transformed the Stream Deck from a macro pad into a genuine control interface. Companion unlocked direct control of:

• Vision mixers and switchers
• Media servers
• Lighting desks
• Audio consoles
• PTZ cameras
• Playback systems
• Automation and show control environments

Suddenly, a single Stream Deck XL could trigger complex, multi-device actions that previously required bespoke panels, custom control systems, or expensive proprietary hardware.

For many professionals, it became the fastest way to build a custom control surface without vendor lock-in.

Why AV Professionals Took Notice

Professional AV environments value three things above all else: reliability, flexibility, and speed of operation.

The Stream Deck XL delivers on all three:

• Flexibility: Buttons can be reconfigured per show, per client, or per venue.
• Speed: Physical, labelled buttons outperform touchscreens under pressure.
• Redundancy-friendly: Units are inexpensive enough to keep spares on hand.

In live environments – where missed cues cost money and reputation – this matters.

As a result, Stream Decks are now common in:

• OB trucks and flyaway kits
• Corporate and hybrid event control
• Theatre and stage production
• Broadcast galleries
• Lighting and video control racks

What started as a “streamer tool” is now a practical, professional solution.

The Rack Problem No One Addressed

There was, however, an obvious mismatch.

Professional AV infrastructure is built around 19-inch racks. The Stream Deck is not.

For too long, Stream Decks were:

• Taped to desks
• Balanced on shelves
• Mounted on improvised brackets
• Left loose in flight cases

None of this aligns with how professional systems are designed or maintained.

If the Stream Deck was going to be treated as a serious piece of AV equipment, it needed to live where serious AV equipment lives: in the rack.

Bringing the Stream Deck into the Rack Properly

This gap is what led to the development of CP3Design’s rack-mounted drawer systems for the Stream Deck XL.

The objective was simple:

• Secure the Stream Deck in a standard 19-inch rack
• Maintain full usability and visibility
• Allow it to be stowed safely when not in use
• Integrate cleanly alongside other control and processing hardware

The result is a solution that treats the Stream Deck like the professional control surface it has become, not a desktop accessory awkwardly forced into a rack environment.

A Tool That Has Outgrown Its Original Market

The Stream Deck’s journey mirrors a familiar pattern in the AV industry: a product designed for one market finds far greater value in another once professionals recognise its potential.

Today, the Stream Deck XL is not competing with gaming peripherals. It is competing with:

• Custom control panels
• Dedicated hardware controllers
• Complex touch-based systems

And in many cases, it is winning – on cost, speed, and adaptability.

Mounted correctly in a rack, it becomes exactly what modern AV workflows demand: a powerful, reconfigurable control surface that works across disciplines.

Looking Ahead

As software-defined control continues to replace fixed hardware, tools like the Stream Deck will only become more central to professional AV systems.

The question is no longer whether the Stream Deck belongs in professional environments.

It is how professionally it is integrated!