Display settings

Type size, column width, the reading line, mirroring, and the three surfaces.

Shared, not local

Everything on this page is a property of the room, not of one device. Change the type size from your phone and the display changes; change the surface on the display and the phone’s settings sheet updates to match.

That includes type size. The two buttons in the corner of the remote’s mirror, the + and − keys and the Type size slider all change the same shared value, so resizing from either device moves both.

The remote does not render at the display’s pixel size, though: a phone is not a monitor and should not pretend to be one. It scales the shared size down to something readable in the hand, which is possible because the two devices agree on a position in the text rather than a position in pixels.

Type size and line height

Type runs from 20 to 160 pixels. The right number depends almost entirely on distance: as a rule of thumb, you want three to six words per line. Fewer and your eyes swing back and forth; more and you lose your place on the return.

Line height runs from 1.1 to 2.4. Looser lines are easier to track at a distance; tighter lines fit more of the next sentence on screen, which helps you see what is coming.

Neither affects pace. Speed is derived from the measured height of the script and its word count, so a change in type size is absorbed automatically.

Column width

From 40% to 100% of the screen. On a wide display, pulling the column in to 60–70% keeps line lengths readable and keeps your eyes near the centre, which (if there is a camera behind the glass) is where you want them.

The reading line

The reading line is the fixed point the text scrolls past, drawn as a thin rule with two markers. It can sit anywhere from 15% to 70% down the screen.

Around 40% is the usual choice: comfortably above centre, with a couple of lines of lookahead below.
Higher, around 25%, gives you much more lookahead: good for dense material you have not rehearsed.
Lower, around 55%, puts the text closer to a camera mounted below the screen.

The guide can be hidden entirely once you have found your position; the text still scrolls past the same point.

Surfaces

Night: near-black with warm off-white text. The default, and the right answer in most rooms.
Amber: amber text on black. The classic broadcast prompter look; the lower blue content is easier on the eyes over a long session and throws less colour onto your face in a dark studio.
Paper: ink on warm off-white. For bright rooms and daylight, where a dark screen turns into a mirror.

Mirror and flip

Mirror flips the text horizontally, for a beam-splitter: a half-silvered mirror at 45° in front of the lens shows you the script while the camera sees straight through. Without the flip, the reflection is backwards.

Flip reverses vertically, for rigs where the display sits face-up under the glass.

Check before you roll

Toggle mirror while looking at the glass, not at the screen. It is the reflection that has to be readable, and it is very easy to get this backwards in a hurry.

Setting up a rig

Put the display where the reflection lands square in the glass, then set the column width so the text sits in the middle of the frame.
Set the type size from where you will actually be standing, not from arm’s length at the desk.
Move the reading line until it is as close as possible to the lens.
Turn the guide off, and run thirty seconds of the script at your intended pace before recording anything.