Managing Teleprompter Scrolling Speed with Elgato Stream Deck and Pedal
In my experience, one of the most challenging aspects of reading from a teleprompter has always been speed control. Unless you get the speed just right, you either have to rush or slow down your narration, and either adjustment adds stress to your delivery that can force a glitch and another retake. During my recent review of the Elgato Prompter, speed control was an issue. Though you can control speed with a mouse wheel, I found this option clunky and hard to use.
Fortunately, Elgato has two hardware options you can use to control scrolling speed; the Stream Deck+ ($199.99) and Stream Deck Pedal ($89.99). Elgato was kind enough to send both options for me to try, and I'll briefly recount my experience here. Both devices provide multiple functions for many different applications, with prompter operation just a small part of their respective repertoires. Let's start with the Stream Deck Pedal.
Stream Deck Pedal
The Stream Deck Pedal is a three-button foot pedal that you drive with your feet (Figure 1). Installation is straightforward and prompted by a card that ships with the unit.
Figure 1. The Stream Deck Pedal has three pedals that you drive with your feet.
Some software nomenclature will assist your installation. First, you download and install the Stream Deck application (elgato.com/download), which is straightforward. Then, you have to download and install the Stream Deck plugin for the Camera Hub software that drives the Prompter (Figure 2). This is simple enough if you don't waste time looking for the Prompter plugin as there isn't one.
Figure 2. This plugin connects both Stream Deck hardware devices to the Camera Hub software.
Once you install the plugin, the Camera Hub appears on the upper right in the Stream Deck software (Figure 3) with a number of software functions that you can assign to the three pedals. If you don't see that collection of functions in the panel on the right, the plugin isn't installed.
Figure 3. Configuring the Stream Deck pedal to control prompter speed.
The interface is very simple to use and configure. As mentioned, each control on the right is a function controlled by the Camera Hub software. To assign that function to the pedal, you drag it onto the respective slot in the interface and configure it using the controls shown in Figure 3, which obviously will differ for each function.
In Figure 3, I dragged the Prompter Control to the middle pedal to start and stop the scrolling. Then I dragged the Prompter Scrolling control to the left and right pedals and configured the pedal on the left to accelerate scrolling by 2%, and the right pedal to slow it by 2%. As I read through my narrations, I could click on the left to accelerate the scroll speed and click on the right to slow things down. This functioned perfectly though it took a few minutes to get comfortable with this approach.
The only fly in the ointment was a quiet click that each pedal made when pressed, though Elgato provides multiple springs I can insert to adjust the pedal pressure and perhaps the noise as well.
I attend YouTube University before starting any product installation, and the best YouTube video I found to assist with the Prompter/Stream Deck Pedal installation and configuration was this one. Note that the producer used a different configuration for controlling prompter speed, highlighting the unit's flexibility.
Stream Deck+
You see the Stream Deck+ in Figure 4, with eight keys and four knobs. This translates to 16 keys and 8 knobs because you can swipe to a new page and get another full set of controls (see the Wipe Left command on the right of the LCD panel).
Figure 4. Here's the Stream Deck+
Once you have the Camera Hub plugin installed, you assign functions to the Stream Deck + using the same procedure as the Stream Deck Pedal. If you have both hardware devices installed, you switch interfaces using the toggle on the upper left.
In Figure 5, I configured the left-most scroll wheel to control Prompter scrolling speed. This approach worked equally well and took no time at all to adjust, with the added bonus that adjusting the knob proved soundless. Of course, if you speak with your hands, having to devote a hand to controlling scrolling speed might feel limiting.
Figure 5. Assigning functions to the Stream Deck+, including control over a PowerPoint slide show.
Controlling PowerPoint
The other reason I wanted to evaluate the Stream Deck+ related to PowerPoint operation. To explain, using the Camera Hub's Opacity control, you can display text over an application in the Prompter window. So, in theory, you could read a narration while displaying a PowerPoint slide (Figure 6). This sounds great, but once you display the text, the Camera Hub takes control of the screen so you can't click on the slides to advance them. Once again, Stream Deck+ to the rescue.
Figure 6. Displaying text over a PowerPoint slide
After loading the PowerPoint Stream Deck plugin, I was able to configure the two keys on the bottom left in Figures 4 and 5 to start and stop the slide show and to click through the presentation. Mechanically, this worked perfectly and would likely be a great approach for a polished, short presentation with minimal screen activity. I'm not sure I could manage reading a narration and clicking through a highly choreographed presentation, but that's more on me than Elgato.
Overall, either the Stream Deck Pedal or the Stream Deck+ can supply the scrolling control I found necessary to make the Prompter a complete solution. If I had to choose one, it would be the Stream Deck+.
For the record, the best YouTube video for getting Stream Deck+ up and running with the Prompter is this one.
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