A/V options for Zwift

[Hard-Drive]

I've just bought a second hand Tacx Neo from a fellow cycling club member, had my first go on it last night and really enjoyed it, and I want to sort out my "pain cave". I used my work laptop with a 13.5" screen on a tall cardboard box in front of my front wheel...it was OK but I obviously need to sort out something a bit more permanent and not work laptoppy. So, what do I do?

Worth mentioning I'm long sighted, so I need glasses for close up stuff, and I'd really rather not be wearing glasses for training sessions!

A-iPhone 11 to a wall mounted 21" TV. I have all the equipment already, however my Lightning to HDMI connector basically did not work, and when I tried casting to my Firestick, there was a big delay which I could imagine would be really annoying if I start racing or sprinting. Also it ties my phone up so I can't use ZC.

B-Apple TV 32Gb, £150, could then either cast to my wall mounted 21" TV or if I wanted to, a 49" TV that I have. In fairness the 49" might be a bit big, but I could pick up a 32" for sub £200 which might be a nice compromise. My pain cave is also my home office so no harm having a TV in there for news etc...

C-iPad Air 10.9" on either a bar mount or goose neck stand. £700 for the iPad, £25 for the stand. iPad is expensive, but as my current one dates from 2012 and is basically unusable, I can justify the cash as it would get used for a multitude of other things too. It would be good if there was a way to reliably cast to a TV but I'm assuming as per my iPhone 11 option A this is also a non-starter.

Any thoughts or experiences? Thanks in advance!

[Comacchio]

I currently use my work laptop on a local profile (I work in IT so have the necessary rights to do this..), ANT+ dongle then HDMI cable into a tv.

The downside of an Apple TV is it only allows 3 bluetooth connections of which 1 is the remote, so it limits you to 2 devices i.e trainer and HRM or trainer and cadence sensor if the trainer doesn't have this built in.

[random_username]

I started off with Zwift running on a 4 year old Windows tablet that I had lying around - Core M with integrated Intel GFX, HDMI cable and a USB ANT stick. It would run it at a decent detail level in 720P with no issues, which was all the TV could cope with.

If you don't have some old hardware lying around - a reasonably decent desktop from somewhere like ebuyer is about £175 - something in that price range will run it at a decent lick, and you have the option of adding a better graphics card if you want to run at 4k etc in the future. A PC also lets you use other training apps if you choose as well.

As said about - AppleTV has a limited amount of bluetooth connections so you may have to use the mobile companion app to work round it, which can cause another layer of things to go wrong...

[J4CKO]

I bought a Dell desktop for my garage a couple of years back, it has a 24 inch monitor on it courtesy of my previous employer who didnt ask for it and two others back, plus a laptop when making me redundant. Have the monitor on a wall bracket int he corner at a sort of desk

I had a spare SSD so ghosted the OS over to it so it boots more quickly, but most will have some form of SSD nowadays and you can usually get one for £100, £50 for a S/H 24 inch monitor, ANT+ dongle and you are off and running.

Depends on space I guess, but the small form factor one I have is tiny, looks like this.



The big LCD was temporary, its half a garage that I have the front of, just move the chair and point the bike/trainer at the screen, then move it back or leave it in place for next time. Got a big cabin down the garden but decided I prefer in there.

[MarcelM6]

I used to use my Android phone via cable to 32inch TV. OK, but parts of screen cut off and can't then use Companion App.

Bought a basic ipad (£329) and a handlebar mount - works perfectly. Much faster than phone.

I also tried Amazon and Chromecast mirroring - neither particularly successful.

[Hard-Drive]

Thanks all. What about a MS Surface? Had one as a work machine years ago and really liked it. I guess it could do all of the tablet stuff an iPad could, plus presumably easy peasy to connect to a TV too.

Thoughts?

[Comacchio]

Hard-Drive said:

Thanks all. What about a MS Surface? Had one as a work machine years ago and really liked it. I guess it could do all of the tablet stuff an iPad could, plus presumably easy peasy to connect to a TV too.

Thoughts?

We had an IT boss a few years back that introduced about 10 Surface Pros into the organization... nightmare to support, still trying to get rid of the final 3... Flakey devices that often won't power on unless you whisper sweet nothings to them and touch certain buttons in the right order...

But if you liked them then yes fairly easy to hook up - ANT+ dongle into one of the USB ports for your sensors then get yourself a mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable and Bob's your uncle.

[random_username]

A surface would work (the aforementioned windows tab was basically a cheap chinese surface clone) - but you are going to need to spend a couple of minutes setting it up every time (plug in charger, plug in USB ANT dongle, HDMI connection etc, balance it on a table, hope Zwift has remembered your password and you don't need to get off the bike to type it in etc).

Advantages of a PC or a device that you can dedicate to it are that you can pretty much turn on and off you go. Likewise with an iPad if you only have one cable to plug in, but if you get sweaty you may get drips all over it if you aren't careful, or have the phone on your handlebars with the companion app and the iPad on the table.

If you've not found Zwiftinsider yet, there's a whole load of useful info: https://zwiftinsider.com/category/equipment/comput...

[Willow1212]

I use a laptop plugged in to a cheap projector (~£70) mounted on the garage ceiling, projecting on the back of the garage door, which works really well. The garage needs to be reasonably dark, but it is a fairly inexpensive way of getting a decent size image without having to find space for a TV on the wall. Might be an option depending on where you have everything set up.

[Hard-Drive]

Thanks for the replies all. Useful stuff!

random_username said:

A surface would work (the aforementioned windows tab was basically a cheap chinese surface clone) - but you are going to need to spend a couple of minutes setting it up every time (plug in charger, plug in USB ANT dongle, HDMI connection etc, balance it on a table, hope Zwift has remembered your password and you don't need to get off the bike to type it in etc).

Advantages of a PC or a device that you can dedicate to it are that you can pretty much turn on and off you go. Likewise with an iPad if you only have one cable to plug in, but if you get sweaty you may get drips all over it if you aren't careful, or have the phone on your handlebars with the companion app and the iPad on the table.

If you've not found Zwiftinsider yet, there's a whole load of useful info: https://zwiftinsider.com/category/equipment/comput...

To be honest, I'd set up a TV table to the right of the bike in the below pic, and put the TV on the wall in front. The table would have the Surface Dock (which I already have) on it, so it's just a case of plug it in and go. The room is my home office above my garage, and at the end of the session I could just grab the Surface and head back to the house.

Unless anyone has a big reason not to, I reckon the Surface is right for me, it will be the most useful gadget that I can use for just about anything...

[Hard-Drive]

[random_username]

If you have the dock and can leave it all set up so you dock and go, then you should be fine...