SHELTON, CT, MAY 29, 2013—Following its introduction last fall of the award-winning E.P.I.C. (Enhanced Prompting Information Centre) all-in-one prompter display and on-air talent monitor, Autoscript, part of Vitec Videocom, a Vitec Group company, and a world-leading teleprompting company, has seen tremendous interest in the product among leading North American broadcasters. The first E.P.I.C. units to roll off the assembly line sold out in a matter of months and are already in use at several high-level news organizations throughout major U.S. media markets.
“The E.P.I.C. made its debut at a prime time, with the presidential election being at the top of everyone’s news agenda,” says Robin Brown, product manager, Autoscript. “One particular news organization purchased four 17-inch prompter systems to cover the Democratic and Republican conventions, and then successfully integrated the systems into their field kits for large outside broadcast events after the presidential election was over.”
The E.P.I.C. is a unique all-in-one prompter display and on-air talent monitor that vastly simplifies studio equipment while retaining the advanced features and functions of the Autoscript LED prompter series. The groundbreaking design, which replaces two pieces of equipment with one, features a unique integrated flip-down talent monitor, making the system ideal for both studio and location production. Compared to separate prompter monitor configurations, this ergonomic system reduces overall weight, increasing compatibility with robotic/support systems. It also streamlines cable management for video, tally signal and timecode display, and lowers power consumption with the capability to run the entire system via one power cable. “The system’s reduced weight allows for easy transport,” adds Brown. “We have offered bespoke flight cases to our customers to aid in the transport, which can hold the E.P.I.C., hood, glass and mounting hardware.”
While the E.P.I.C. offers broadcasters a streamlined system that is quick and easy to set up, it still provides the functionality of the fully featured studio systems they’re accustomed to using. It can also incorporate Autoscript’s WinPlus newsroom software—the most popular prompting application in daily usage around the world. The Windows-based WinPlus adds the ease of point-and-click functionality to an intuitive on-screen edit display.
Brown notes that current customers appreciate the integrated clock. “It reduces the amount of cabling needed. All power, for the tally signal and time-code data comes right from within the monitor, so there’s nothing extra to add,” he says. “They’ve also come to appreciate the ease of rigging, as the talent monitor is attached to the prompter. We’ve taken this simplicity a step further and provided a dual-SDI-input version to make the prompter monitor and talent monitor signals digital, without the need for up or down conversion.”
About Autoscript
Autoscript is the world leader in the prompting industry, providing professional teleprompting equipment to broadcasters across the globe. Established in the UK in 1984, with headquarters in the UK and the US, Autoscript designs and builds innovative hardware, PC cards and software to meet real world needs and continually enhance the production process. A prime example of this is Autoscript’s latest product, the E.P.I.C. (Enhanced Prompting Information Centre), an all-in-one prompter display and on-air talent monitor that vastly simplifies studio equipment, reduces power consumption and enables easier location prompting. Autoscript is a member of the Vitec Group.
For more information visit www.autoscript.tv
About Vitec Videocom
Vitec Videocom brings together some of the most respected, most innovative and most sought-after brands in the industry: Anton/Bauer, Autoscript, Camera Corps, Litepanels, OConnor, Petrol Bags, Sachtler, Vinten and Vinten Radamec. It acts as an endorsing brand for these market-leading broadcast, film and pro video products, encouraging multi-brand system sales and simplifying the way that customers worldwide do business.
Vitec Videocom is an operating division within the Vitec Group, an international business serving customers in the broadcast, photographic and military aerospace and government markets. Vitec is based on strong, well known, premium brands on which its customers rely on worldwide.
Vitec Videocom – advancing the quality and science of media production.
