Open an old TV or VGA monitor. (The kind with a CRT) On the back side of the picture tube you will find 2 coils of wire. One coil controlls the vertical sweep of the electron beam that draws the picture on the screen. The other controlls the horizontal. If you remove and reverse the wires leading to the horizontal coil you will in effect reverse the scanning on the screen. That will cause everything to be backwards. (If you do the same to the vertical coil the screen flips upside down.) It might be brighter than an LCD and there would be less hassle in preparing your prompts. Be carefull inside a TV or monitor though! Lots of high voltge in there.
his is a great article and saved me hundreds of dollars. I constructed the prompter in about two days. The diagram in the article was easy to follow. I stabilized it a bit more than the diagram and it worked perfectly for a shoot I did that needed a prompter.
I found a great softwear called "Presentation Prompter," under $100, put it on my laptop, controlled it with a mouse and it all worked perfectly.
The talent, who had never used a prompter before, had no trouble at all.
Thank you very much!
Submitted by olblackbear on Wed, 03/15/2006 - 11:43.
Love Brian's article and it inspired me to discover that you can even make the teleprompter scroll.
Turn on Automaticaly Scroll from the View menu. Then, to control the speed hit the up or down arrows on the keyboard. You can even make it go BACKWARD!
Submitted by SandeeCohen99 on Thu, 12/16/2004 - 07:03.
With the addition of a mirror parallel to the plate glass, you can set up your teleprompter in a more parascopic setup. This should allow you to view normally formatted text in the teleprompter without needing to reverse it, and would also allow the laptop to sit upright, making use of the keyboard more natural. I'd draw a sketch, but I have no place to put it, and I do not currently have the resources to construct a working prototype. I can be reached at bkofford at g mail dot com.
Having worked in the television industry for years, I always found the specialized equipment a little over priced myself. Like the telepromter, a number of things could be made yourself if you just put your mind to it. Thanks for showing us how you did it! I also had a co-worker who built his own jib after studying one on a shoot.
Another suggestion on your design might be to add some black felt or cloth on the sides to shield it from lights, thus making the screen easier to read. Most of the telepromters I used also cover the area from the lens to the glass, giving you a black background behind the glass.
Submitted by davidmtaylor on Mon, 12/27/2004 - 13:21.
What type of glass did you use? I found this article very helpful, but in the one I built I see a double image. It's not blurry, rather I can see two of the image displayed on my screen about 1/16th of an inch apart. This is very hard on the eyes!
Never mind I bought a 'poster frame' from Staples and took out the plastic piece out of that which goes in front of the poster. It's very very thin and works great.
I recently wrote a web-based teleprompter that will be perfect for this. I am putting in text flipping functionality in the next day or 2. Check it out at www.easyprompter.com It's absolutely free and has more functionality than a lot of similar software.
Also, you can follow the development news on Twitter - www.twitter.com/EasyPrompter
What a great setup! If wordworking is not your thing however, you might want to take a look at an even more simple setup utilizing cardboard boxes. You can download instructions at http://www.promptdog.com/downloads/diy_teleprompter.zip
I love the resourcefulness of this whole thing, however, I think I'd think twice about bringing it to a professional set...
Kate Goldsworthy, Away With Words, www.awaywithwords.tv if you ever need a real prompter.
good idea. i saw another instruction and a video on this site:
www.kai-renz.de/teleprompter/
but sadly it´s not in englisch... Anyway i like your version better - because it´s less work !
Brian, check out Presentation Prompter for the Mac. As far as I can see it is excellent teleprompt software. Haven't used it in anger yet, but has all the features I need.
Hey man just wanted to say thanks! I've been messing around with making my own telepromter too! and your tutorial is great.
Also wanted to say that instead of going through all that BS with flipping the text, and creating a PDF there are some awesome TelePrompter applications which let you set the size of the text, the text color, and text background as well as flipping the text so it reads the right way on the glass.
Yes, you will need special glass for a teleprompter. it is called beamsplitter glass it has special silver coating. the guys at http://www.prompt-it.com.au sell some of it or just google it and you will find a few places that sell.
Thank You so much! It's exactly what I needed!
Thank's God there are still people who willing to make they brain work beyond BestBuy !
Without You Human Race will die.
Thank You ,again!
Another thing to try...
If your comfotable working with electronics:
Open an old TV or VGA monitor. (The kind with a CRT) On the back side of the picture tube you will find 2 coils of wire. One coil controlls the vertical sweep of the electron beam that draws the picture on the screen. The other controlls the horizontal. If you remove and reverse the wires leading to the horizontal coil you will in effect reverse the scanning on the screen. That will cause everything to be backwards. (If you do the same to the vertical coil the screen flips upside down.) It might be brighter than an LCD and there would be less hassle in preparing your prompts. Be carefull inside a TV or monitor though! Lots of high voltge in there.
Excellent Article
his is a great article and saved me hundreds of dollars. I constructed the prompter in about two days. The diagram in the article was easy to follow. I stabilized it a bit more than the diagram and it worked perfectly for a shoot I did that needed a prompter.
I found a great softwear called "Presentation Prompter," under $100, put it on my laptop, controlled it with a mouse and it all worked perfectly.
The talent, who had never used a prompter before, had no trouble at all.
Thank you very much!
Plus, you can automatically scroll!
Love Brian's article and it inspired me to discover that you can even make the teleprompter scroll.
Turn on Automaticaly Scroll from the View menu. Then, to control the speed hit the up or down arrows on the keyboard. You can even make it go BACKWARD!
Pretty neat, but I have a suggestion.
With the addition of a mirror parallel to the plate glass, you can set up your teleprompter in a more parascopic setup. This should allow you to view normally formatted text in the teleprompter without needing to reverse it, and would also allow the laptop to sit upright, making use of the keyboard more natural. I'd draw a sketch, but I have no place to put it, and I do not currently have the resources to construct a working prototype. I can be reached at bkofford at g mail dot com.
Great article!
Having worked in the television industry for years, I always found the specialized equipment a little over priced myself. Like the telepromter, a number of things could be made yourself if you just put your mind to it. Thanks for showing us how you did it! I also had a co-worker who built his own jib after studying one on a shoot.
Another suggestion on your design might be to add some black felt or cloth on the sides to shield it from lights, thus making the screen easier to read. Most of the telepromters I used also cover the area from the lens to the glass, giving you a black background behind the glass.
Type of glass?
What type of glass did you use? I found this article very helpful, but in the one I built I see a double image. It's not blurry, rather I can see two of the image displayed on my screen about 1/16th of an inch apart. This is very hard on the eyes!
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Never mind
Never mind I bought a 'poster frame' from Staples and took out the plastic piece out of that which goes in front of the poster. It's very very thin and works great.
Coll
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLll
Try this!
I recently wrote a web-based teleprompter that will be perfect for this. I am putting in text flipping functionality in the next day or 2. Check it out at www.easyprompter.com It's absolutely free and has more functionality than a lot of similar software.
Also, you can follow the development news on Twitter - www.twitter.com/EasyPrompter
DIY Teleprompter
What a great setup! If wordworking is not your thing however, you might want to take a look at an even more simple setup utilizing cardboard boxes. You can download instructions at http://www.promptdog.com/downloads/diy_teleprompter.zip
Ingenious
I love the resourcefulness of this whole thing, however, I think I'd think twice about bringing it to a professional set...
Kate Goldsworthy, Away With Words, www.awaywithwords.tv if you ever need a real prompter.
WOW!
You Are a GENIUS!
Thanks a bunch for putting this together! Simply Brilliant!
I'm sharing this on a zillion social networks... thanks!
Nice work !
good idea. i saw another instruction and a video on this site:
www.kai-renz.de/teleprompter/
but sadly it´s not in englisch... Anyway i like your version better - because it´s less work !
Presentation Prompter
Brian, check out Presentation Prompter for the Mac. As far as I can see it is excellent teleprompt software. Haven't used it in anger yet, but has all the features I need.
The Galss
I have a questions.
There is a special glass for teleprompter?
Because I have a doble reflex with a common glass
Awesome, thanks for the how-to
Hey man just wanted to say thanks! I've been messing around with making my own telepromter too! and your tutorial is great.
Also wanted to say that instead of going through all that BS with flipping the text, and creating a PDF there are some awesome TelePrompter applications which let you set the size of the text, the text color, and text background as well as flipping the text so it reads the right way on the glass.
I am trying out one called.
Thanks again.
super cheap teleprompter
check out the guys at www.prompt-it.com.au they have teleprompter very cheap for iphones and ipads also. i got one and it works super well.
GLASS FOR teleprompter
Yes, you will need special glass for a teleprompter. it is called beamsplitter glass it has special silver coating. the guys at http://www.prompt-it.com.au sell some of it or just google it and you will find a few places that sell.
Great stuff!
Thanks for the idea. We are going to need a teleprompter very soon and I think this is just the solution we need. Thanks Mr. Lawler.
Joey
Genius!
Thank You so much! It's exactly what I needed!
Thank's God there are still people who willing to make they brain work beyond BestBuy !
Without You Human Race will die.
Thank You ,again!