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Comment by mrdonbrown | Hacker News Reader

I'm surprised no one has mentioned using a teleprompter yet. You can pick one up for around $100 and when combined with a little 7" monitor (another $100) attached to your computer, creates a nice setup for zoom calls where you can look directly at your partner. Also doubles as a great talking head setup for video production.

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I got a teleprompter when Covid hit. I do a lot of training and I use it mostly for "looking into the eyes" of my students.

I have a twitter thread describing my setup. [0]

Were I to do it again, I would get a slightly larger monitor for it. I don't know if it is causation or just correlation (I'm getting old) but my eyes have gotten a bit worse in the past bit.

0 - https://twitter.com/__mharrison__/status/1515078084600348677

I second this! I’ve been using one of these as well, and I’ve noticed the positive impact looking directly at the camera can have on my conversations.

Do either of you have a shot of what this looks like in practice? Google Images isn't giving me much. Specifically what the Zoom or Meet looks like from your perspective.

Sure, this is what I see [1] and you can see how it looks on the other side from my Twitch streams [2]

[1] https://i.imgur.com/4JPIHx1.jpg [2] https://www.twitch.tv/mrdonbrown

>I'm surprised no one has mentioned using a teleprompter yet. You can pick one up for around $100 and when combined with a little 7" monitor (another $100) attached to your computer, creates a nice setup for zoom calls where you can look directly at your partner. Also doubles as a great talking head setup for video production.

For anyone else confused about what a teleprompter adds here, it's that the two-way mirror lets you put a webcam 'behind' the virtual reflected screen, so it can be perfectly centered in the screen.

Though this just makes me want to tape or suspend a webcam to the middle of a regular monitor, so it could show actual size human faces.

The Youtube channel DIY Perks has a video making essentially a homemade teleprompter mod for a laptop with very cheap materials.[1]

I've thought about getting a proper teleprompter but my issue there would be screen space and lighting. Has this worked well with a decently inexpensive webcam or do you use a full-on streaming/production type camera setup?

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AecAXinars

I haven't tried using the teleprompter with a webcam, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I use a Sony a6600 myself, with a Sigma 16mm/f1.4 prime lense.

Regardless, I recommend capturing in 4k, and running that through OBS so you can zoom/crop the image for ideal framing, optional of course.

Do you have a good telepromper recommendation? I have found it hard to search/find good ones at a good price.

I use the Caddie Buddy one [1], which is a bit more robust for bigger cameras. There are other options where you can use your phone or something, but I prefer using a mirrorless and a good sized monitor.

[1] https://caddiebuddy.com/teleprompter-for-ipads-androids-and-...

Oh my! A teleprompter for less than $200! I haven't kept up with this market, but that's so amazingly affordable. I've long switched to tablet for the text, but this is easily 5x cheaper than what I still use from a purchase back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I'm guessing that mine is 5x heavier too. However, it is one of those things that once you have it, you don't need a new one so I've just never looked to see what is cheaper today

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