# Are TV preseners on split screen able to see the 'other half' while looking straight ahead ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2020, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tv-preseners-on-split-screen-able-to-see-the-other-half-while-looking-straight-ahead/854376 "2020-05-24T06:06:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![glaucon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/47e85d/32.png) [@glaucon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glaucon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tv-preseners-on-split-screen-able-to-see-the-other-half-while-looking-straight-ahead/854376/1 "2020-05-24T06:06:03Z")
It’s common in TV new/current affairs to see the presenter talking to someone and the watcher gets to see both parties to the conversation on a split screen. I know TV presenters are able to look straight at the camera and read a script off an autocue but is there some corresponding thing where they can see the person they are addressing their questions to while continuing to look straight at the camera ? If the answer is yes would love to hear what the product is called or a link to some explanation of the technology involved. In case I haven’t made myself clear here’s an example [Frame.io](https://app.frame.io/presentations/3bdd3167-e070-4451-8f9f-3320f90ba561) with three participants. ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tv-preseners-on-split-screen-able-to-see-the-other-half-while-looking-straight-ahead/854376/2 "2020-05-24T06:42:26Z")
I expect it could be done with the autocue, the autocue is a glass reflector in front of the camera angled to reflect text from a screen below it, I don’t see any reason that screen couldn’t show an image instead of text ---
**Author:** ![glaucon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/47e85d/32.png) [@glaucon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glaucon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tv-preseners-on-split-screen-able-to-see-the-other-half-while-looking-straight-ahead/854376/3 "2020-05-24T10:16:35Z")
> [@steepone](#): > > I expect it could be done with the autocue, the autocue is a glass reflector in front of the camera angled to reflect text from a screen below it, I don’t see any reason that screen couldn’t show an image instead of text Excellent point. I had forgotten how the autocue worked, that the words are just displayed on a screen so I presume at least a ‘ghost’ image of the person you’re talking to could be displayed in the same way the words are ? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tv-preseners-on-split-screen-able-to-see-the-other-half-while-looking-straight-ahead/854376/4 "2020-05-24T11:53:37Z")
Or there could just be a TV screen showing what’s being broadcast? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tv-preseners-on-split-screen-able-to-see-the-other-half-while-looking-straight-ahead/854376/5 "2020-05-26T10:00:18Z")
One of the traditional news-reader skills is being able to talk with people you can’t see. I don’t think he has to be able to see the people he is talking to: all he has to do is look at the camera. Given his age and experience, I’d say he got that skill down years ago. Technology is improving all the time. I am impressed by the quality of the studio link (they aren’t fumbling the audio), and it ought to be with the capability of any professional studio to do as well as Zoom. But I don’t think he needs it. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tv-preseners-on-split-screen-able-to-see-the-other-half-while-looking-straight-ahead/854376/6 "2020-05-26T15:10:45Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Or there could just be a TV screen showing what’s being broadcast? Sure, but the nifty bit about autocue is that the presenter can look _straight into_ the camera rather than having to look at a screen that is located _next to_ the camera. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tv-preseners-on-split-screen-able-to-see-the-other-half-while-looking-straight-ahead/854376/7 "2020-05-26T15:17:20Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Or there could just be a TV screen showing what’s being broadcast? If you’ve ever had the occasion to videochat with somebody you’ll have noticed they never seem to be looking straight at you, but slightly down or off to the side. That’s because they’re looking at your image on the screen rather than at the camera. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tv-preseners-on-split-screen-able-to-see-the-other-half-while-looking-straight-ahead/854376/8 "2020-05-26T15:28:36Z")
Sometimes the split screen is 3 people sitting at the same table (or 2 of the 3). This seems (seemed) to be fairly common on CNN, maybe one of the panel is elsewhere - now they all are. I would presume they have a TV screen near the camera. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-tv-preseners-on-split-screen-able-to-see-the-other-half-while-looking-straight-ahead/854376/9 "2020-05-26T16:00:11Z")
Pretty much every studio camera has a prompter, or in the original trademarked form, a TelePrompTer. What most of the people above are calling Autocue (another brand name) is branded as Autoscript here. Whatever you call it, they’re all just an LCD display facing the ceiling and a beam splitter in front of the camera lens. Normally they display the script, but there’s no particular reason they can’t display video. As mentioned above, being able to innately look through the camera to a guest or to the viewing audience is a valued trait among interviewers and news presenters.