Build guide
DIY teleprompter builds.
You can spend nothing, twenty pounds, or three hundred. Here is what each one actually buys you.
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Quick answer
A DIY teleprompter can be as simple as a phone propped below the lens, which costs nothing, or a home-built beam-splitter rig using a sheet of two-way glass, which costs around twenty to forty pounds. Both need software with mirror mode for the glass version, which ScrollCue provides free.
Tier zero: spend nothing
A phone propped directly below your lens. That is a teleprompter. It is not a good one, because your eyes are visibly a few degrees off axis, but it is enormously better than notes on a desk and it costs nothing.
The better free option, if you are recording on a computer, is a camera-behind-script setup, where your own camera feed renders behind the words. Your eyes are then on the lens and on the script simultaneously, which is what the glass rig achieves optically. It costs nothing extra and it is genuinely the answer for most people who think they need to build something.
Tier one: build the glass rig, £20 to £40
A beam-splitter is a sheet of glass at forty-five degrees that reflects your screen up at your face while letting the camera see straight through. You need two-way or beam-splitter glass, an eight by eight inch sheet is plenty, a way to hold it at forty-five degrees, and something to shroud it from stray light. Foam board, a hot glue gun, and an afternoon.
Then turn on mirror mode, because the reflection flips the text and without it you will be reading backwards. This is the part people forget and then conclude their build failed.
Tier two: buy the rig, £80 to £300
NEEWER, Desview, Glide Gear, GVM, and Leeventi all make perfectly good ones. What you are paying for over the DIY version is a rig that folds, mounts on a tripod properly, does not wobble, and has a shroud that actually blocks light. If you are shooting weekly, this is worth it. If you are shooting once, it is not.
Be honest about whether you need glass at all
Glass gets you true on-axis eye contact. That matters if you are being broadcast to a large audience on a big screen where a few degrees of gaze offset is visible. For YouTube, for a video call, for a course, for a church stage, it usually does not, and a camera-behind-script setup gets you most of the way for free.
Plenty of people buy a rig, use it twice, and go back to a phone under the lens. Try the free version first. If you find yourself wanting more, the rig will still be there.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to build a DIY teleprompter?
Beam-splitter or two-way glass, something to hold it at forty-five degrees, a shroud to block stray light, and a phone or tablet as the display. Foam board and glue will do it. Then turn on mirror mode.
Do I need to build anything at all?
Probably not. A camera-behind-script setup, where your own camera renders behind the words, gets you most of the effect for free. Try that before you buy glass.
Why is my text backwards on my DIY rig?
The glass flips it. Turn on mirror mode, which pre-flips the text so it reads correctly in the reflection. This is the step everyone forgets.
Is a bought rig better than a DIY one?
It folds, mounts properly, and does not wobble. That is what you are paying for. Optically they are doing the same thing.