Why use a teleprompter?

Teleprompters are cool. Putting a half-silvered mirror in front of the camera so the talent can read magically floating white letters scrolling upward while looking straight down the barrel of the camera lens is a great way to save the trouble of memorizing lengthy scripts and make shoots go faster, smoother and better. Even without a mirror, you can put a laptop below, or above, the camera to achieve almost the same thing.

What’s wrong with teleprompters?

Professional teleprompters cost too much, and some aren’t designed very well. They usually run you more than a thousand dollars (though the expensive ones usually include a small dedicated monitor and/or box with mirror). We consider this highway robbery, since small LCD monitors can be purchased for under $100, and half-silvered mirrors and boxes are not too expensive.

What is PromptDog?

PromptDog is a software-only teleprompter, designed by DVcreators.net, one of the world’s most respected video training companies, for our actual shoots, and tweaked extensively on the set and afterwards until it worked perfectly to our very high standards. And now, we are offering it to you - for a fraction of the price of competing, inferior solutions.

Smooth, quiet scrolling

Instead of using noisy keystrokes, PromptDog uses your mouse scroll wheel or laptop trackpad, for very quiet and responsive, easily adjustable scrolling speed. (Although if you don’t have a scroll wheel or trackpad, up and down arrow keys work also!).

Easily change your display

When you’re on the set, every second counts. All controls for text size, font, line spacing and inverting text for black-on-white display are easily accessible right on the main page - no hunting for preferences or searching through menus.

Colorize text

In PromptDog, you can colorize specific sections of your script for designating different sections for multiple speakers or putting emphasis on specific words.

QuickRewind

When the talent flubs a line, just a flick of your finger backward on the mouse wheel and the text will rapidly skip back a few lines at warp speed so you can retake the section, unlike other prompters where you have to work very hard to scroll back a few lines.

EZedit

Wording sound a little awkward in a section? Want to make an on-the-spot script revision? This is very common. No hassle. Just click the edit button, make your change, click done and keep prompting!

Second talent window

If the talent is not operating the teleprompter, PromptDog offers a second resizable window that can be positioned on a second monitor with perfectly synchronized scrolling that can be placed on a second monitor so you can operate the prompter for your talent.

Timing is key

One awesome new feature is the timer showing not only how long you’ve been reading, but with a feature only found on the most expensive teleprompters, which is the total estimated read time, based on the length of the script and how fast you’re reading through it.

QuickSearch

Have a long script and want to jump to a certain phrase without scrolling and scrolling and scrolling? Use the QuickSearch feature, available both in the Edit Window and the Operator Window, to instantly jump where you want.

Adjustable eyeline indicator

Is the eyeline indicator a little high or low? Just click on it and drag to reposition - the change is automatically mirrored in the second window. Or make it more transparent or opaque. You can also choose to have the eyeline indicator on the left, right or both sides of the prompter window.

Mirrored text

For the ultimate in professional teleprompting, with one click, the text on the talent window can be reversed, so with a second monitor, a couple cardboard boxes, a black T-shirt to drape around your lens and a half-silvered mirror, you have a simple, very inexpensive but highly effective teleprompter - the same that we use on our shoots!

What features are in both PromptDog and PromptPuppy?

• drag ‘n’ drop or menu import
• mouse scroll wheel operation
• trackpad operation
• arrow key operation
• change font
• text size
• text line spacing
• invert background
• QuickRewind
• movable eyeline indicator

What features are only in PromptDog?

• invert scroll direction
• separate, synchronized Talent Window
• optional mirrored text in Talent Window
• script editor
• can colorize words, phrases
• can save edited script
• search field in Edit Window
• search field in Operator Window
• eyeline indicator on left, right or both
• eyeline indicator opacity
• script timer
• realtime estimated total read time

Click here to download instructions for building your own simple teleprompter!

System Requirements:

• Mac OS X
• Windows XP and Vista
• Reliable internet connection

Recommended:

• mouse scroll wheel or trackpad
• 2nd monitor (for through-the-lens prompting)