All About the Teleprompter

Some quick hints about buying a teleprompter

• What is the distance to the talent? 3-12 feet, iPAD or Tablet and 12" teleprompters. 15 feet - 19 feet 15" | 17" | 19" | 24 feet or less 24" | and any distance over 24 feet requires a 32" Teleprompter
• What kind of camera are you using? 
• Smaller Cinema Cameras, Camcorders, DSLR, Mirrorless (8' - 12'): shop Prompter People's Pocket Cue V2 | Power Cue | Prompter Pal Pro Model
• Cinema, ENG, DSLR, Mirrorless (12' - 24'): shop Prompter People's FLEX Plus |  Proline Plus
• Broadcast or Fujinon Lenses (15' - 32'): shop PrompterPeople's Broadcast | Q-GEAR
• Robotic or PTZ Cameras (17' - 24'): shop PrompterPeople's  PTZ or Robotic Camera | Robo for up to 2 PTZ's or Robo Jr for 1 PTZ
  
• Presentation or Large Format sizes up to 32" (32' feet or less): shop Prompterpeople's Q-GEAR
• A Prompter for giving speeches or a conference prompter (15' - 24'): shop PrompterPeople's Stage and Speech / Presidential
• A Presidential stage and speech conference prompter where you have speakers of different heights but want to control your pole height from off stage, you use the PrompterPeople Automatically (Automated) rising pole StagePro (15' - 24'): shop PrompterPeople's Autostepper
• Using a Jib Arm or want an affordable solution (8' - 24'): shop PrompterPeople's Over and Under Camera 
• Explore all of PrompterPeople teleprompters here select your size, monitor, or distance from talent to find the right prompter for your needs 

“You know you are using a teleprompter correctly when it looks like you are not using a teleprompter.  With a teleprompter you read a prepared script while looking directly into the camera lens.  You are keeping eye contact with the viewer while speaking to them.  Keeping direct eye contact is the most powerful to communicate with another human being.  Not having a prompter can block the effective delivery of a message.  If the speakers eyes keep shifting left or right they look “shifty” and untrustworthy.  So using a computer or piece of paper next to the lens is not a good solution.  After some practice a teleprompter will help you deliver your message successfully to your viewers, be they customers or students colleagues.  All TV News People use teleprompters, as well as most live reality show hosts and politicians.  Because “prompters” are widely available for well under $1K many video bloggers and web personalities use small prompters whether recording or streaming live.  And many of the YouTube product demos you see are also made with prompters

Having a good script in a teleprompter can keep your messaging on track and helps to avoid “umh’s”, “aah’s” and other vocal filler speakers may say when thinking about what to say next.

Teleprompters use a “beamsplitter” to display text on one side to the talent while a camera can be on the other side and not see the text as it records the talent.  Teleprompters use specially coated beamsplitter glass.  Formulations include 65/35, 70/30 and 50/50.  The numbers represent light transmission/reflectance.  The first number is the light passed through the glass to the camera.  The second number is the amount of light reflected up from the monitor or iPAD/tablet into the glass for the reader.  The beamsplitter is typically at a 45 degree angle over the monitor and only the talent sees the reflected text, the camera does not.  65/35 reflects the text more brightly than 70/30 glass, both are common formulations for telepromtper beamsplitters. 

While a beamsplitter will reflect anything you put onto your monitor most people use a teleprompter application on their Mac, PC or tablet to scroll text.  With Scrolling text the talent should only be reading the line in the horizontal center of the screen.  This line would be right in front of the camera lens.  This way it looks like the talent is keeping eye contact with the viewer.  If the text is not scrolling at proper speed the talent would first look above the lens and then below the lens, breaking eye contact with the viewer.

The two basic types of teleprompters are camera mounted and speech prompters.  Camera prompters have a hood with a camera behind the beamsplitter glass.  These teleprompters are used to record or broadcast video via a camera. Speech Prompters have the talent on one side and the audience on the other side.  The speaker can see the text or slide and the audience cannot. Prompter People makes the widest variety of teleprompters and the videos and links below will introduce you to the products and explain what each can do for you.”

Learn About how Prompter People makes Teleprompters for everyone from Small to Large Studios, Small to Large Businesses, and Educational Needs.

Prompters for Educational Needs

Products for Professional Needs

This video helps you choose the right Prompter People teleprompter for your needs.  You can also call us directly M-F 8-5 PST at 408-866-9100x102.

This video explains the differences between the Proline and FLEX lines from Prompter People.

the Prompter People line of teleprompters is constantly growing and upgrading with all monitors being reversing monitors, High Bright Daylight readable prompters at affordable prices and wide screen prompters including 24" and 32".  A full line of iPAD and Android prompters are available so be sure to contact us  if you have any questions.