Control Live Captions with an Elgato Stream Deck (Bitfocus Companion, No Internet)

To control live captions from a Stream Deck: install Bitfocus Companion on a computer on the same network as your captioning device, add the BeAware: ConferenceCaptioning connection, and assign its actions to buttons on your Elgato Stream Deck. You can then start and stop captions, change languages, and show or hide the captions on screen with one press. Everything runs on your local network, so it keeps working with no internet.

Why put captions on a Stream Deck?

During a live show, the AV operator is already busy. A physical button to hide captions during a video, switch the audience to another language, or restart captions after a break is faster than walking to the captioning device. Companion is free, open source, and made for exactly this kind of control, and ConferenceCaptioning has a ready-made module for it.

What you need

• A Mac, iPad or iPhone running the ConferenceCaptioning app.
• An Elgato Stream Deck (or another surface Companion supports).
• Bitfocus Companion, running on a computer on the same local network.

Step 1: Create a stream and activate the app

1. Create a customized stream in the ConferenceCaptioning customer portal.
2. Activate your account in the ConferenceCaptioning app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, and start streaming.

Step 2: Add the module in Companion

1. Open Companion and go to Connections.
2. Search for BeAware: ConferenceCaptioning and click Add.
3. Enter your stream name and your captioning device's local address. Open the app and copy both from there, and include the http:// prefix, for example http://192.168.0.100:8080.

Step 3: Put the actions on Stream Deck buttons

In Companion's Buttons page, add the module's actions to buttons. The module covers these controls:

• Start and stop captions.
• Show and hide captions on screen.
• Language and live translation selection.

Companion shows the same buttons on your connected Stream Deck, so anything you place on a page appears on the hardware right away.

A simple button layout to start with

• One button to start captions and one to stop them.
• One hide captions button for video playback and one to show them again.
• One button per language your audience uses.

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Pro Tips

1. Keep the address from changing: give the captioning device a static IP so the module keeps working from one event to the next. Here's how on a Mac.
2. No Stream Deck? Open http://{device IP}:8080/control.html in any browser on the same network for the same start, stop, show and hide controls.
3. Pair it with your video setup: use the buttons while captions run in OBS or ProPresenter.
4. Mission-critical show? Add a backup device with hot-failover redundancy.
5. Module help and issues: the module is open source on GitHub.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Stream Deck plugin for ConferenceCaptioning?

You control ConferenceCaptioning from an Elgato Stream Deck through the free ConferenceCaptioning module in Bitfocus Companion. Companion runs on a computer on your network and drives the Stream Deck buttons.

Does Stream Deck control of captions need internet?

No. Companion talks to the captioning device over your local network, so buttons keep working even if the venue internet goes down.

Which Stream Deck models work?

Companion supports the Elgato Stream Deck family, and also other control surfaces such as the Companion web interface and Loupedeck. Any surface Companion supports can control ConferenceCaptioning.

Can I control captions without a Stream Deck?

Yes. Open http://{device IP}:8080/control.html in any browser on the same network to start, stop, show and hide captions.