As someone who owns a teleprompter and never uses it (much like most of the tech in my house), I recognize the usefulness of it, but hardly find a way to implement it into my workflow because it’s a one-off piece of equipment that has to be used in a very specific way.
That being said, what Elgato announced today seems to fit more in line of how and where I’d want to use a teleprompter. Their new Prompter does what is advertised and comes with a bit more to make it what I believe will be a more useful product.
This device actually comes with an attached 9″ 1024 x 600 monitor which can be used to display a script, show a video call, or possibly even your stream chat and will allow you to keep eye contact with the camera. I feel that part is really important because most teleprompters you see online only come with the reflective part and you have to provide the screen which isn’t always helpful because you don’t necessarily have a spare device laying around to use. And let’s not get into the terrible teleprompter apps that are in the app stores.
And while my teleprompter only seems to support DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, the Prompter will support those along with Elgato’s own Facecam Pro webcam, phones, and other webcams. They really want to make sure that everyone can use the Prompter.
This device even connects over USB-C to your Mac or PC not only for connectivity, but for power so there isn’t a messy set of cables you have to contend with. That’s a plus for me, because my streaming setup is not the cleanest.
The Prompter uses Elgato’s Camera Hub app which will allow you to display auto-scrolling text or your stream chat with no issues. And like I mentioned earlier, you can use it as an additional display so you can place your video calls in the Prompter so you can actually make eye contact with those you are talking to on those calls.
And because it is an Elgato product, it plays nicely with all other Elgato products, specifically the Stream Deck. You can use the Deck to pause the text, adjust the brightness, or font size with a simple press.
The Elgato Prompter is available today for $279.99.
Source: The Verge
