We may be talking about different things. The sous-vide thing is like a slightly larger immersion hand-mixer. Doesn’t take much space. It comes with a clip so it hangs off the side of a large kitchen pot full of water and plugs into power. There are fancier models that come with their own big plastic tubs and apps. But the basic one works on any container (besides, I just saw one of the popular brands looking to charge a subscription fee for using their app. Screw that!)
The temperature stays fairly tepid and constant since the device has its own heating element and a little internal propeller to move the water around. The food goes into freezer ziploc bags with the air squeezed out. Afterward, you can sear it in a pan or broiler but if slicing, there’s no need.
Now that you mention smoking, I’m wondering what it’ll be like to add a few drops of liquid smoke…