Hi, I’m considering getting back into the sim after an 18 month hiatus. When I left, I was using Nguyen’s plugin from GitHub (Flight Tracker Streamdeck) but now I see there’s a new solution called Pilots Deck by Fragtality.
What are the differences? What are folks using now? What is recommended? Are there any other solutions I should be considering?
Have a look at AAO (https://axisandohs.weebly.com), it has a great StreamDeck integration. Plus you get tons of fantastic ready-made StreamDeck profiles from Guenseli (e.g. PMDG 737 AAO Scripts & StreamDeck XL Profile and MCP Combo template and Display profile » Microsoft Flight Simulator) on flightsim.to, that alone is worth considering AAO for SD use…
Granted it’s payware so not free, but it’s totally worth it (and it has tons of other great features for hardware integration besides the SD support)
Thanks. I’ll look at that. But Pilots Deck also seems to come with some prepackaged templates. And I already have a setup I like on the Nyguyen solution. I’m not likely going to buy something where a freeware solution can suffice.
One thing that might get me to switch to the Pilots Deck solution is added support for FBW 32NX. Is anyone here using Pilots Deck with that airliner?
Well, why not try both? 
PilotsDeck is free and open-source (though a registered/payed Version of FSUIPC7 is recommended and even required for some Profiles) and AAO has a Demo Version if I remember correctly.
To my understanding AAO also acts as a “normal” StreamDeck Plugin, so they can theoretically also used together.
To answer your Questions:
PilotsDeck uses FSUIPC as a Connector to the Sim. So if you’re familiar with FSUIPC and how to do Stuff with it you can easily get started. It could be described as Hardware-Frontend/-Framework for FSUIPC on the StreamDeck. If you’re not that familiar with FSUIPC the learning-curve (to make your own Profiles/Integrations) could be a bit steep. On the other Hand (as I understood), AAO sometimes requires to script things in RPN and thats far more complex than learning LUA (at least in my opinion … I wrote a Plugin in C#, a Lua-Library for the FSL and still can’t figure out RPN^^)
In comparison to FlightTracker, you’re not tied to a specific SimConnect Version and the need to recompile it for older Sims. PilotsDeck also just works with FSX and P3D, as long as the correct FSUIPC Version for the Sim is installed. Also (based on the official Readme on GitHub) the Actions of PilotsDeck are more versatile/customizable.
What I am using should be obvious 
It is like it has always been: it’s all up to personal preferences and what tool can accomplish a specific Use-Case better! There is no “right” or “wrong” here.
AAO is not a bad Solution and for many it surely is totally worth it, but I had also Users which enjoyed my Plugin much more then AAO. Like I said: try both and pick your Favorite 
Assuming you have a registered copy of FSUIPC7, you only have to invest time!
Since all three (AAO, FlightTracker and PilotsDeck) are StreamDeck Plugins, you could even mix & match them in the same Profile!
Somehow ironically that my Answer seems less biased 
And: there is also Profile for the 737 on GitHub (a User Contribution).
For the FBW A32NX: There is no such thing as “added support for Plane XY” to the Plugin. It can do anything the Plane Developer allows. As long as they provide ways (accessible via FSUIPC) to manipulate Controls in the Cockpit and read their State.
I must admit, the NX Profile is the one I’ve put the least effort in since I really only fly with either the FSLabs or the Fenix and found the NX API unnecessary complex 
… and the other two have no real API/SDK in the first Place oO
Thanks. Both of these other solutions sound decent if not overly complex. Im not sure there’s any compelling reason to switch to PilotDeck unless it offers a lot more controls than Flight Tracker. I see no reason to pay for a solution so AAO is not a consideration.
Well it has more Controls than FlightTracker (again based on the Readme on GitHub), e.g.:
I find AAO works well with the Streamdeck, BUT – it has to be manually re-started AFTER the plane loads, to work … If it is set to load when the sim loads, it does NOT seem to be able to communicate with the plane correctly ???.
With no Discord Server for AAO’s support, its an issue that remains unsolved.
I live with the inconvenient of having to manually reload AAO after each plane loads, as then it does seem to work quite well, but am now wondering if Spad-Next might have been a better choice.
just got this and the AAO software and got some questions:
1)is the below automated data step still required with the latest version and how are you meant to do it?
2)Also tried some of the profiles for the 737 and a320 from .to - and finding some of the buttons appear grey or are are inactive when can see from the pics they should have some more details in them?
"You have to install and enable the Aircraft Automated Script “PMDG_737MSFS_Data” that you will find under AAO Scripts PMDG section.
This PMDG scripts are built in since AAO version 2.30 build 19
Please read the AAO manual for how to install automated scripts
You have to enable special settings for PMDG broadcast, see AAO manual chapter 14 “PMDG Aicraft”"
3)Do you need the paid version of AAO or should the trial version work ok? and if you buy the licence for AAO (from somewhere like aerosoft) do you just activate on the installed free version somewhere so you can save all your settings ect?