In Broadcast - February 2013 - 58

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 16 - FEBRUARY 2013

N E W S

InGEAR
Prompting And The Television Studio Cont.
Prompting with
an iPhone

58

far they
can be integrated
in to fixed studios.
Unlike traditional
teleprompters, iPad
prompters can only
be used in isolation – you can’t
link several iPads together, the
iPad acts as both the PC and the
monitor so no live script edits can
be made and there is no ability to
interface to a newsroom, and control
options are very limited to presenter
control only.”
So while manufacturers are
delighted that these new devices
have increased the size of the market,
they have not made a sizeable
impact in the television studio.
One of the reasons for this is the
limited power of the available apps.
Many, such as Prompter People’s
iCue Teleprompter for iPad do not
compare in terms of raw features
with their own full-blooded software
equivalent, in this case Flip-Q Pro,
which has advantages over the iPad
app such as all-important run lists.

PicoPrompt and Picoscroll are
in some ways very typical,
offering a decent level of
playback control. However,
when twinned with the
c o m p a n y ’s p o w e r f u l
WinPlus software, they enable
producers to select and send single
stories or complete running orders
from the broadcast studio to a
journalist or presenter’s iPad device
anywhere in the world for immediate
playback using PicoPrompt. This
integration into a newsroom system
is a great prospect.

Networked Prompters
Controlling remote devices is
not entirely new. Indeed, in 2006,
Autocue pioneered the use of a
new IP-based system originally,
according to Satchell “to address
the previous limitations and points
of failure that were (and still are)
inherent in a PC-based system with
an internal or external PCI card/
box connected.”
The prompter PC running QMaster
software connects to small QBox
devices over IP, which in turn
generates the image on video
monitors. The fact that the QBox is
IP-based means that it is untethered
from the PC, and can be anywhere
in the world so long as it can get a
network connection back to the PC.

Dummy Apps?
Do these programmes add anything
to the prompting world or are
they cut-down basic versions?
Not always. Ikan’s iPad and PC
applications both deliver a rich text
editor with multi-language support
and precise speed control, but
the lightweight iOS app actually
adds interesting functionality.
Owners can use cloud services
for a convenient way to access
or upload scripts from anywhere.
Very simply, a producer on one
continent can upload a piece to be
delivered rapidly in a remote studio
or location – indeed anywhere there
is a WiFi connection.
Datavideo announced a new
system that makes the most of an
iPad or Android tablet’s connected
nature to deliver a distributed and
wireless teleprompting system.
Using video encoding technology
from Teradek, scripts are compiled
and played out from a central PC
station, controlled by the producer.
The compressed video is then
streamed live to any iPads or
wireless monitors by WiFi, delivering
to presenters a synchronised, lowcost, multi-screen solution.
The Autoscript apps were
developed in conjunction with
Te l e p ro m p t i n g Te c h n i q u e s .

Autocue’s network Qbox

“In simple studios, this means that
cables don’t need to be run long
distances, or any one gallery can
control prompters in any given
studio by connecting to the
appropriate QBox. In more
advanced applications, it has
fundamentally changed the way that
broadcasters can use a teleprompter.
For example, an operator in London
can now prompt for a news team in
New York, or a field team can be
sent out with a prompter and
connect back to the studio with
mobile 3G connection. In addition,
the QBox removes the single point
of failure in the traditional PC/PCI
card architecture.”
The QBox also has strong
credentials when it comes to
disaster recovery. The client device
stores the latest version of the script
locally, so if there is ever a failure
with the network, the PC, or the
NRCS, the QBox can continue
independently even without a live
IP connection.

Control Systems
Historically, a teleprompter

was controlled by a dedicated
operator sitting at the prompter
PC freeing the presenter to focus
on presenting. Financial cutbacks
and technological progress has
seen a rise in popularity presenterdriven controls.
Autoscript recently launched
their new wireless foot control
with a 50m range and runs off a
9V battery. It has no moving parts
for very smooth operation, has low
latency and is silent in use. Autocue
also manufactures a wireless version
as well as USB and serial versions.
These robust and responsive control
peripherals are well suited to TV
studio use. Many self-shooters
and independent studios make
use of wired or wireless hand
controllers, such as the small
Datavision controller or even the
Prompter People Wireless Scroll
Controller for iPad.
Computers are still (literally)
tied to the mouse. Televisions
still depend on the remote control
and even touch screen iPads are
often attached to a keyboard, so it
should be no surprise that television
script cueing systems have not
progressed further.
Autoscript is one of the few
companies that have developed
an alternative – “the multiple award
winning Voice-Plus+”. By following
the words of the presenter – in a
number of languages – the system
can adapt its pace in real-time. It
claims presenters need no training
and is said to be able to handle
different accents and timbres of
voice. Pulling off this technological
challenge is a considerable feat
but this type of solution works best
where a presenter is not permitted to
ad-lib or where there are a number of
voices or other sounds being picked
up by the microphone.

if
broadcast
features
can
be
programmed
into commodity equipment.
In terms of market growth,
according to Autocue, “with
the proliferation of a new tier of
video content producers such
as corporates, schools, and
videographers, there has been a
huge demand for more simple
teleprompting equipment at a more
affordable price.”
It is this surge that has led to the
focus on lower-end teleprompting
products and the development of
iOS and Android apps. This has
forced down the price point of entry
level teleprompting packages as
they vie against those based on iOS
or Android apps.

New Approach
Feature-wise, what has always
set broadcast prompters apart
from others is the integration with
newsroom systems from the likes
of AP ENPS, Dalet and Octopus.
Lesser systems have no such
requirement and have therefore
been freer to develop cloudbased tools or systems based on
transmitted H.264 video.
For Satchell, a new approach is
worth pursuing: “Going forward,
manufacturers will need … in the
longer term [to] potentially explore
ways to combine the benefits of a
tablet-based prompter with a more
traditional studio prompting system.”
Arguably, while the first generation
of apps were mere scripting and
script controlling programmes, it is
clear that iOS and Android software
engineers are going beyond their
original, basic aspirations. Now it
appears that they are developing
features that may lead the industry
into some exciting new territories.

Next Wave
In the technology
field there is
always a demand
to deliver greater
per formance and
more features for less.
At the higher echelons
of the broadcast market,
manufacturers
have be en
able
to
maintain
their prices
although
the advent
of WiFienabled
distributed
i P a d
solutions
m
a
y
Datavideo’s TP-300
change the
iPad prompting
status quo
solution
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/?first=Phillip&last=Izzard&search=Go http://www.twitter.com/inbroadcast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpzEatLsHdE&feature=youtube_gdata_player https://www.facebook.com/InBroadcast http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/inbroadcast/id468652679?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.branded.inbroadcast&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5icmFuZGVkLmluYnJvYWRjYXN0Il0. http://WWW.INBROADCAST.COM http://WWW.INBROADCAST.COM http://www.autocue.com/broadcast-solutions/teleprompter/teleprompting-software/qbox http://www.datavideo.info/Teleprompters/TP-300#tab=description
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