Bitfocus Companion and Stream Deck for Church Tech: A Beginner's Guide
The first time I opened Bitfocus Companion, I closed it again. Tabs, modules, actions, feedbacks, and a grid of empty squares staring back at me. I'm a pastor, not a broadcast engineer, and it felt like I'd wandered into somebody else's job.
I'm glad I went back. Today Companion switches our cameras, changes our lights, mutes the hallway speakers, and decides what the hallway TV shows. Most of our volunteers never open it. They press a clearly labeled button, or they just advance a slide and let it do the work.
If Companion looks daunting to you, this is the guide I wish I'd had. It's Part 1 of a short series. This post gets you from nothing to one working button. The rest of the series goes through what we actually do with it, one job at a time.
What Companion is (and why it's less scary than it looks)
Companion is free, open-source software from Bitfocus. It turns an Elgato Stream Deck (or a similar button panel) into a control surface for video switchers, cameras, lighting, presentation software, TVs, and much more.
Here's the whole idea in one sentence: you press a button, and Companion sends a command to a device on your network. Everything else is detail.
A few words you'll see a lot:
- Connection: Companion's link to one device, like your video switcher. Each piece of gear gets its own.
- Module: the "driver" that teaches Companion to talk to a specific product. You pick one when you add a connection.
- Action: what a button does when pressed ("put camera 2 on screen").
- Feedback: how a button changes its look based on what the device is doing (turning red when that camera is live).
- Preset: a ready-made button the module's author already built. You just drag it into place.
Presets are the big reason Companion is less scary than it looks. You rarely start from a blank square.
What you need
- A computer that stays on during services. Companion runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. We run it on a small Mac mini in the booth, separate from the computer running our slides. Your main tech computer is fine to start.
- A Stream Deck. Any size works, and a 15-button model is a good start. Companion also has an on-screen emulator and web buttons for a tablet or phone, so you can try it before you buy anything.
- A shared network for your computer and gear. The official docs recommend wired connections whenever possible, since some devices don't handle Wi-Fi dropouts well.
- Your devices' IP addresses. Write them down. You'll need them for every connection.
Install it and connect your Stream Deck
1. Download Companion from bitfocus.io/companion. You'll need a free Bitfocus account. Pick the latest stable version for your system and install it like any other app.
2. Close the Elgato Stream Deck app. This one trips people up. The Companion docs say it runs best with full control of your Stream Deck, so quit Elgato's software first, then plug in your Stream Deck.
3. Open the web interface. Companion starts with a small launcher window. Click Launch GUI and the admin page opens in your browser, by default on port 8000 (usually http://127.0.0.1:8000). Everything you set up happens here. Your Stream Deck shows up on its own, and its buttons mirror the grid you see on screen.
Make your first connection
4. Add your switcher. Ours is a Blackmagic ATEM, so that's the example. In the Connections area, search for "ATEM" and choose the Blackmagic Design ATEM module. Pick a module version (the latest is usually right), enter your ATEM's IP address, and save.
If the connection doesn't show as OK, it's almost always the network. The ATEM module's help notes that the switcher and your computer need to be on the same network and IP range (for example, both starting with 192.168.0.), and that USB control isn't supported. If Blackmagic's own ATEM software can't connect over the network, Companion won't either.
Build your first button
Start with presets. Every module has a help page linked from the Connections list, and many, including the ATEM module, come with presets. Drag a preset onto an empty square in your grid. Once it's placed, you can edit it like any other button.
Then build one yourself. Click an empty square and create a regular button. Give it text and a color, then add a press action: choose your ATEM connection, pick "set input on Program," and choose camera 1. Press it on your Stream Deck and watch the ATEM cut. That's it. You've done the scary part.
A few things to know as you add more:
- One button can run several actions, even with delays between them.
- Feedback keeps volunteers from guessing. Add a feedback so the button turns red when that camera is live.
- Label in plain words. "Pastor," not "CAM2 PST3." If your newest volunteer wouldn't understand it, rename it.
- Use pages, and name them. We keep a simple Sunday page for volunteers. The docs warn that reordering pages can break buttons that point to a page number, so plan your order early.
- Export a backup once things work, and save it somewhere other than that computer.
Companion doesn't need a button press
Once we got comfortable, we found that buttons are only one way in. Other software can tell Companion to fire an action. In our booth, ProPresenter (our slide software) sends the cue, so a slide or the service countdown can switch a camera or flip the hallway back to the live service without anyone touching the Stream Deck. The buttons stay there as a backup. That's where this series is headed.
The series
- Companion for church tech: a beginner's intro (you're here)
- ATEM switching and downstream-key lower thirds (coming soon)
- Automatic camera cuts from ProPresenter slides (coming soon)
- Lighting cues in Lightkey with Companion (coming soon)
- Muting the hallway speakers with an Allen & Heath AHM (coming soon)
- Hallway TV: announcements before service, live feed during it (coming soon)
Start small: one connection, a few presets, a couple of Sundays. You don't have to understand all of Companion. You just need one button that works. Then another.