The working from home thread: tips and advice

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Velocio in reply to @freddo
@Velocio are you using the Stream Deck in any other ways which I might miss out on?

I probably push the buttons on the thing about 5-10 times per day.

Thinking of what that looks like as a % of use, I use it for:
- 70% of my Key Light Air control... pre-programmed buttons for brightness and colour temperature means I can adjust the lights in a moment between meetings as the day progresses.
- 20% Hue light control... turning lights on and off in the room I'm in, the hallway, or after making a cup of tea I may remember I need to turn out the kitchen light and can't be arsed getting up to do it.
- 10% microphone and volume control. This is mostly to mute the microphone regardless of which video conference software is fired up. If I need to mute fast then this button does it and I don't have to try and point the mouse at the right part of the screen.
The Key Light Air control is the vast majority of use though... muting is down at once or twice a week as normally I'd use the mouse, and things like volume I have a huge knob on my desk to do, and Hue lights I tend to use the Hue control at the doorway.

So yeah... you really do not need a Stream Deck, I thought I'd use it even more than I do. I also thought I wouldn't use the Elgato Control Center (Key Light tray software)... but I actually use that the most.

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freddo in reply to @Velocio

thanks for the explanation - it's what I was hoping you'd say.

What does the Elgato Control Center do? It's not compatible with OSX 10.13.6 which I use, so will i miss some important feature? Or does this mean that I'll be forced to get a little Stream Deck to control Key Light Air(s)?

Alternatively I could sack off both Elgato products and get some hue bulbs which work independently of my OS. Planned obsolescence is so frustrating!

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Velocio in reply to @freddo
What does the Elgato Control Center do?

Single control panel in the Windows System Tray that:
1. Controls Brightness
2. Controls Colour Temperature
3. Allows you to rename your lights
4. Allows you to synchronise the controls (turn one light on and they both go on, raise the brightness of one and it raises both to the same brightness, etc)
It is not necessary... when push comes to shove and I'm on Linux, I have the Elgato Control Center app installed on my Android phone and that offers all of the above too. But it is convenient in the system tray.

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