For a growing urban area, local broadcast TV stations are under pressure to give residents news that is hyper-local, live, and well executed. With this goal in mind for Louisville’s metropolitan region, Fox affiliate WDRB-TV invested in an extra studio and put Autoscript E.P.I.C. teleprompters at the forefront of their new facilities.
“We have about 8 1/2 hours of news per day, basically covering more news than any other station in the state,” explained Gary Schroder, Chief Engineer of WDRB-TV. “Recently, we’ve expanded, going from two studios instead of one. We purchased three new Panasonic AJ-PX380G cameras with Fujinon HTs18x4.2BERM lenses, three new Vinten Quattro pedestals, and three Vector 700 heads. To give the anchors the same feel moving from studio A to studio B, we also bought six Autoscript E.P.I.C. 19” Teleprompters.”
The E.P.I.C. combines the brightest LED-prompting screen with an integrated 19” full HD-SDI on-air monitor. Unlike other isolated on-air monitors that usually require a bracket underneath the unit, the E.P.I.C. doesn’t come with an extra mounting bracket so the camera operators at WDRB-TV can utilize the full camera tilt without restrictions.
“The Autoscript E.P.I.C. is fantastic. Initially, we were skeptical on whether or not the sled would work correctly, but it functioned perfectly. Everybody said these things were great, they look really nice and the anchors love to see the transmission feed-in talent monitor below,” said Schroder.
Compared to other systems that Schroder considered, the E.P.I.C.’s integrated system was lighter in weight and used less power so Schroder and his team could be confident they had the most efficient solution. And to go along with the prompter, Schroder chose to purchase the ClockPlus-E that clips in the front of the system and takes timecode data, tally status, and power internally from the E.P.I.C. system as well as the TallyPlus.
“The anchors love the clock on the front because they have that real time without looking over to the side. And the tally works great. We have the viewfinder light triggered by the camera control unit and the Tally sensor detects that. Much better and simpler than the Tally trigger that we had to ‘rig’ for the old units.”
Overall, Schroder can rest easy knowing that he can count on Autoscript’s quality engineering and built-to-last systems to keep his broadcasts running smoothly.
“If I had to describe the Autoscript E.P.I.C. Teleprompters in a couple of words, I’d say absolutely awesome!”