Making a teleprompter..what software to use?

mikkowilson said:
Here's some Teleprompting software a friend and I wrote, feel free to use it.

http://www.mikkowilson.com/files/PlanePrompter.exe

PlanePrompter-Screenshot.jpg


The good news: The price, if you wish to use it, is a recomended donation of $10 to www.isara.org

- Mikko
Click to expand...

Haven't tried it, but it certainly fulfills the cheap part. :)

My office uses EZ Prompt, which is definitely functional, but not cheap.
 
Thanks Captain.


Prompt Puppy looks pretty cool. ... I see they compared to mine in their demo .. and a few features look familer too. :)


- Mikko
 
The problem with all the free/cheap teleprompter software alternatives is that they either don't support multiple displays at all, or they don't support flipping the image, or they only support flipping the image in both monitors (the prompter monitor and the operator monitor.) THis limits you to operating the prompter from somewhere in front of the camera (or operating it yourself, as the talent.) Major limitation.

I can't speak for Windows but here's what I have found for mac:

PromptDog (Prompt Puppy's sibiling) has the proper dual screen/mirroring capabilities and is the cheapest by far to contain that capability. $59.95. Cons: scrolling is not as smooth as I'd like (very jittery at faster prompting rates), and there is no "fullscreen" mode...you have to manually resize the operator's window and the "talent window" will be automatically resized to the same size. But it works, and it is very nicely designed for ease of use and has all the most important features.

I also like ZaPrompt (a lot!) but it is $249. Still pretty reasonable for full-featured prompter software, and it has some nice features. Best scrolling...very smooth, no jitter at all.

Don't care for ScriptQ (aka ProPrompter). Clunky interface and it didn't like my MacBookPro in dual screen configuration (crashed).

I like FlipQ (Pro version) from PRompterpeople but it appears to only be sold with their prompter hardware.

As for Prompt! 7.0 and Presentation Prompter....Presentation Prompter is hands-down the better interface, imo...but the lack of dual screen support is a deal-breaker for use with a mirror system and separate operator station.
 
It's pretty good, with good features. However, the mirrored mode doesn't have a separate non-mirrored operator window. This requires that the operator sit where they can see the talent's prompter screen. Or, the talent operates their own prompter. Both are significant compromises.
 
While that's technically true, it defeats the goals of a simple, low-cost, professional teleprompter. I can't imagine spending the minimum $200 or so to build a separate prompter for the operator (cumbersome at best and not professional) not to mention the vga splitter and cables needed to drive a second external monitor.

Prompt Lite is a good product for self-prompting (like for video podcasts) or for situations where the operator can see the talent's prompter screen. But if you need to flip the monitor for the talent but not for the operator (which is the common professonal need), the only choices are paying much more for an LCD monitor that flips in hardware, or pay the very reasonable $70 for PromptDog.

I'm in the process of building a semi-diy 17" mirrored enclosure, professional-looking teleprompter for under $300 including software and extra-long cables. PromptDog is my software of choice.
 
Try EasyPrompter - www.easyprompter.com - I've been writing this app for the last month or so specifically for the low-budget community. It's absolutely free and has just about every feature you can think of. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
 
FiddlerMD said:
Try EasyPrompter - www.easyprompter.com - I've been writing this app for the last month or so specifically for the low-budget community. It's absolutely free and has just about every feature you can think of. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
Click to expand...


That is awesome. I was actually searching for simple, cheap teleprompter I could run on a Mac. I was even considering looking into way to get Microsoft Word to do it for me... an html based app is genius. Thanks for this!
 
I own prompt puppy, and my clients that use teleprompters have only made good comments about it. They liked that fact at how easy it was to read from far distances, since the word's size could be altered.
 
Hey all - mostly lurk and learn, (and thanks to all the contributors, wow) but I recently went through the effort of paying for and then not liking several prompter software titles before finding one that really works well, so maybe someone can gain from my trials and tribulations. I found Script-Q worked the best for us. Why? The other programs were difficult, nearly impossible or would lock up when trying to edit prompter text "on the fly". Script Q is extremely easy to stop, edit, and then immediately re-prompt, without locking up or having to go through too many steps. Also, as another user pointed out, some of the "other titles" had issues with sizing the window and for us, we could never get them to stay where or how large we wanted them. Script Q automatically resized to all of our studio teleprompters / monitors (4 of them, different sizes) and has never "locked up" like the others did. Only negative comment I can think of so far is after it imports your Word or text files it converts them to it's own proprietary language / "file extension" and so far, I don't see a way to export back to Word. Not sure why we'd want to, but hey, maybe someone else would.
 
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