Autoscript CuePlus helps combat colour vision impairments

Autoscript has launched CountPlus and CuePlus, two new prompting accessories that will make studio life easier for on-screen talent. CuePlus caters for those with colour vision impairments, while CountPlus provides a very flexible timecode and countdown generator. The products were designed and produced entirely in-house by Autoscript as a direct result of customer feedback.

CuePlus is a tally accessory that provides both a selectable colour range and multiple colour states. The ability to select from a range of colours addresses the needs of talent with colour vision impairments such as colour blindness, which often makes it difficult to distinguish reds and greens.

These features also provide a solution for studios where there is a need to display not only the ‘on-air’ and ‘off-air’ state of any camera, but to also pre-tally the camera being cued next. The CuePlus can be mounted on and powered directly from Autoscript’s LED line of prompters.

The new CountPlus is a timecode generator, timecode inserter and up/down count generator designed for use in conjunction with Autoscript’s ClockPlus timecode display. The user can preset and store ten different combinations of start and stop times, addressing the requirement of many live studio presenters to have separate countdowns for programme sections. The CountPlus unit embeds SMPTE/EBU Vertical Interval Timecode (VITC) into the NTSC or PAL prompt video and provides two video outputs which can be distributed to all the prompt monitors and ClockPlus units in a studio. There is also a GPI input on the back which allows the START/STOP function to be triggered remotely.

“Our constant striving for innovation and improvement often lead to the simplest ideas that make a huge difference. CuePlus solves one of the most obvious problems for people that can’t distinguish certain shades of red and green – yet these colours have been used in studios forever. Now those people can choose colours that make more sense for their visual needs,” said Brian Larter, Worldwide Managing Director, Autoscript. “Similarly, CountPlus was devised as a result of a client who simply wanted a visual countdown to the end of a show. We took this as a starting point and added other functionality to make a really useful piece of equipment. And since everything is designed and built in-house, it does exactly what we want it to do and works seamlessly with other Autoscript solutions.”