Teleprompter - Elgato

What it is

An all-in-one desktop teleprompter with its own screen — not a tray you drop a tablet into. A 9-inch 1024×600 display sits behind optical-grade beam-splitter glass, so you read text on the axis of the lens instead of beside it. One USB-C cable carries both power and video from your Mac or PC; the Prompter registers as a second display, which means you can put anything on it, not just a script. Chat, notes, a slide, a shot list. Elgato’s software handles scrolling, and it integrates with Stream Deck for hands-free control. The box includes a universal bracket, a DSLR/mirrorless backplate with nine step-up rings, a Facecam 4K backplate, a universal shroud backplate, and the USB-C cable. Two 1/4″-20 threads let it sit on a desk mount or tripod.

Why it’s on this list

Because eye contact is not a small thing. The gap between a person reading off a monitor beside the camera and a person looking straight down the barrel is the gap between a video that feels like a recital and one that feels like a conversation. Every professional you have ever watched deliver a clean, unbroken address to a camera was reading.

What separates the Elgato from the shoebox-and-glass rigs is that the screen is built in and the software works. There is no tablet to charge, no app that fights the mount, no mirrored-text setting to remember. It is the version of this tool with the friction removed, which is the whole point — a prompter you have to fight is a prompter you stop using.

What to know before you buy

• It is not standalone. The USB-C cable supplies both power and the picture. Without a Mac or PC attached, it is glass. There is no phone or tablet mode, and no way to load a script onto the unit itself. This rules it out for field work.
• Your camera has to fit behind it. The backplates and step-up rings are sized for webcams, phones, and normal mirrorless lenses. A large cine lens or a matte box will not thread into it.
• You supply the stand. There are two 1/4″-20 threads and nothing to screw them onto. Budget for a desk mount or tripod, and remember the whole assembly has to sit at eye height in front of the lens.
• Nine inches is nine inches. At a normal desk distance it is plenty. If you present standing, further back, Elgato’s larger Prompter XL is the model to look at.
• Someone should buy less. If you shoot with a phone and just need to read a script, a cheap beam-splitter phone prompter does the identical optical job for a small fraction of the price. The Elgato is worth it when it is a permanent fixture on a desk you use every day.