Teleprompting

[prog]

Anyone have any insight on low-budget teleprompter solutions? Assume presence of laptops and general technical know-how.

This is an agenda item for tomorrow's Gameshelf meeting. I'm confident that the crew can bang some ideas out together, and I plan on putting some research time in later this evening, but I'd be curious to know if any of y'all happen to know anything already.

The goal is simply improving the show's host segments. In the past I've just scribbled key phrases on a large easel-mounted newsprint pad and had the stage manager flip through it while the host attempts to construct a monologue on the spot. This has not worked well.

I think about plugging a lappy running Powerpoint (or its moral equivalent) into a monitor positioned behind the camera, and having the stage dood page that forward as necessary. Ideally the speakers themselves could control the page flippiness, freeing the manager from worrying about it, but it's not immediately obvious to me how to do that. One imagines pedal controls, but, um.

Comments

[keimel.livejournal.com]

Yes, check on instructables.com - I'm pretty sure that is where I saw one.

Basically, there seem to be two DIY methods that use mirrors and laptops. I'm unsure as to the solution for timed scrolling, but I believe that most of the DIY methods include a manual scroll - someone's gotta do something... perhaps that's how it is in studios?

I know I have seen several boxen that people have done with lots of instructions online.

Oh, here's one of them:
http://www.instructables.com/id/EYS7FYANN0EV2Z3QGO/

Here's another:

http://www.wallstreetfreethinker.com/otherstuff/PlastiPrompter/plastiprompter.htm

I assume you've already seen those from googling...

Hope this is helpful and not just pointing at generic stuff.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Mice can be used as pedal controls pretty easily. So can the spaceboard of a keyboard (though it makes more noise).

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

spacebar. But you probably figured that out.

[chocorisu.livejournal.com]

Powerpoint + wireless mouse (left click forward, right click back, default slideshow controls afaik)

[toonhead-npl.livejournal.com]

I saw this announced on MacMinute recently. Is it helpful?

http://www.varasoftware.com/products/videocue/

[prog.livejournal.com]

It is helpful in that it gives me ideas of things I could do with resources I already own.

Specifically, I could use my Final Cut to make a Quicktime that's just text scrolling upwards, maybe with a little colored overlay strip like that screenshot showed. I learned since posting that most teleprompters scroll automatically, anyway.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

There are devices that can be used to page through Powerpoint slides remotely. I saw them in action at the event I was at recently so that speakers could control the paging through the slides being projected while wandering around the room. Unfortunately (as far as being useful to you now; fortunately for me at the time) I had little to do with the AV stuff so I don't know exactly what this was--probably some version of a wireless mouse, but it was very svelt and easy to hold in one's hand and punch buttons on with one's thumb(it was very simple--only a few actual things to "punch" as far as I could tell).

[misuba.livejournal.com]

PowerPoint (or its moral equivalent)

Oh, the jokes I could tell were I truly motivated.

[prog.livejournal.com]

I of course meant Keynote by this, but nobody knows what that is. Probably not even most Mac people.