Power it on. Point a browser at it. Doors.
Professional timer appliances for live events - hardware outputs, offline reliability, built like broadcast gear by crew who actually run the show. And under the timer: a Stream Deck control computer, a signage player, and a test generator in the same rack-ready box.
The show timer gets its own box, and your laptop's ports get to do their actual job.
The heart of the system. Runs the show clock, serves timer views to every browser in the building, and drives two displays straight from its own HDMI outputs.
A small box that turns any screen into a show display. Point it at your Downstage One, pick a view, mount it behind the TV, and forget it exists.
| Downstage One | Downstage View | |
|---|---|---|
| Clock | Battery-backed - keeps real time through power-offs, no internet needed | Sets its clock from the network, or one press from your browser |
| Front panel | OLED - live address, servers, and output status | E-paper with setup QR - stays readable even unplugged |
| Failsafe | Internal bootable microSD carries a daily copy of your show state | Holding screen + auto-reconnect when the server drops |
| Audio cues | Spoken time calls or tones from the 3.5mm jack - feed comms or a backstage speaker | - |
| Stream Deck | Built-in Bitfocus Companion - or Satellite mode, serving this unit's decks to a Companion anywhere on the network | - |
No app to install, no account to make, no cloud to depend on. Everything runs in the room, on your network - or on no network at all.
Plug into the venue network - or don't. With no network around, the unit broadcasts its own WiFi and the front panel shows you where to connect.
The front panel shows the unit's address - like
downstage-0001.local:8080. Open it from anything with a screen.
Build your rundown, route your displays, set your views.
Confidence monitor at the podium, clock backstage, schedule in the lobby. Add five minutes of delay and every screen in the building updates at once.
The timer is the headline act - but the same box earns its rack space all day.
The main gig: rock-solid countdowns and cues on two hardware outputs and every browser in the building, with spoken time calls and cue tones from the audio jack.
Bitfocus Companion runs onboard - and Companion speaks to hundreds of devices. A Stream Deck plugged into the One can drive your switcher, PTZ cameras, OBS, projectors, and the timer, all at once. No Stream Deck? No problem - the Virtual Deck puts the same buttons in any browser, right on the Show Mode page, on the phone you already have.
External Viewer puts any web page on either output - the day's schedule, slides, a stagetimer.io room, a dashboard. Two independent 1080p pages per One, managed from your phone.
Test card, SMPTE bars, grid, and gray ramp - drawn on-device at native resolution, working before any server is configured. A line-check generator that lives in the rack.
Everything here exists because something went wrong at a real gig once.
If the timer server ever drops, displays switch to a clean holding screen - and restore themselves when it returns. The audience never sees an error page.
No venue WiFi? Each unit broadcasts its own network with per-unit credentials printed on the quick-start card.
One button checks for and installs Downstage OS updates - with an automatic rollback if anything goes wrong. A bad update can't brick a unit.
Install Ontime and Companion with one click and they come up pre-loaded with the Downstage show profile - timers, views, and Stream Deck layout ready for doors, not a blank slate.
Start, pause, next, add time, send messages - from hardware buttons via Bitfocus Companion.
Every output to black, one press, from any phone on the network. Resume just as fast.
The One's battery-backed clock keeps real time through power cuts; the View picks its clock up from the network. Timers, views, and control all run locally. The internet is optional equipment.
When Downstage OS ships, you'll be able to buy just the image. Supply your own Raspberry Pi, flash it, and run the exact same software the finished units run - no subscription, no phone-home, yours to keep.
A short, tested parts list - nothing exotic, all off the shelf:
The full Downstage OS golden image - the same one on every finished unit:
A build-your-own unit is yours to run and yours to maintain:
Not available yet - it ships alongside the first public Downstage OS release. Tell us you're interested and we'll let you know.
Downstage is heading toward launch. Leave your email and we'll tell you when units are available, when the founder's batch opens, and when the build videos drop. No spam - just the launch, and the occasional useful thing.
We'll only email about Downstage. Unsubscribe anytime.
Downstage appliances are built on Ontime, free open-source software (GPL v3) - source code here. Stream Deck support is powered by Bitfocus Companion. Our own operating system, Downstage OS, is public too - see it on GitHub. We publish our manuals before you buy, and we credit the foundations we build on.