Just bought an AppleTV to run Zwift- OH MAN IS IT GREAT!
10-20-20, 10:30 AM
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Sunshine
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Just bought an AppleTV to run Zwift- OH MAN IS IT GREAT!
My old setup, a laptop and ant+ dongle was frustrating. It would take 5-20 minutes to log into Zwift. The trainer would be connected and then drop and never connect again. Sometimes it would reconnect if I started Zwift over(another 5-20min) and other times it would stay disconnected.
I walked away from countless races and workouts due to frustration and would weightlift while waiting for Zwift to load.
The Zwift App on AppleTV is fantastic. It loads immediately, graphics are plenty good for my standards, and the video is smooth. It only connects with bluetooth, but the connection has been perfect so far and it removes the need for the dongle cord so thats actually a plus in my book!
The only downside, and I knew this going in based on youtube and blog reviews, is the remote is terrible for Zwift. The remote works perfectly for all other apps on AppleTV, but it is total trash for Zwift. The touchpad basically doesnt respond and you sometimes need to swipe 15 times to get it to highlight the field you want to select. I can more than live with that as the downside.
$150 is money well spent if I can Zwift more frequently and more reliably.
...and I guess I could watch something on the TV too since thats what the device is made for.
I walked away from countless races and workouts due to frustration and would weightlift while waiting for Zwift to load.
The Zwift App on AppleTV is fantastic. It loads immediately, graphics are plenty good for my standards, and the video is smooth. It only connects with bluetooth, but the connection has been perfect so far and it removes the need for the dongle cord so thats actually a plus in my book!
The only downside, and I knew this going in based on youtube and blog reviews, is the remote is terrible for Zwift. The remote works perfectly for all other apps on AppleTV, but it is total trash for Zwift. The touchpad basically doesnt respond and you sometimes need to swipe 15 times to get it to highlight the field you want to select. I can more than live with that as the downside.
$150 is money well spent if I can Zwift more frequently and more reliably.
...and I guess I could watch something on the TV too since thats what the device is made for.
10-20-20, 12:27 PM
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Randomhead
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for the longest time I was having better connectivity with ant+, but the last time I rode on zwift I had a number of dropouts including one when I was putting out massive power on an interval. massive.
But I have an old pc and it runs quite quickly unless they are doing an update, which seems to be every week
But I have an old pc and it runs quite quickly unless they are doing an update, which seems to be every week
10-20-20, 06:16 PM
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Oh yes, updates.
It seems like either my laptop or zwift had to update once a week.
The AppleTV is always connected so zwift updates when the update is released.
It seems like either my laptop or zwift had to update once a week.
The AppleTV is always connected so zwift updates when the update is released.
10-20-20, 10:21 PM
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updates when you shut down instead of when you start up would be a nice touch.
10-23-20, 05:22 AM
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I switched over to ATV for Zwift a few years ago, once you figure out getting around the ATV 3 Bluetooth connection limit, it is fantastic.
It also saved me money - I'd been paying for a cable TV box for that TV, as my wife's treadmill is next to my bike/trainer and she likes to watch TV while she runs. Now she can watch enough on ATV, so after about 1.5 years I've paid back the Apple TV Box cost and have been in positive ROI!
It also saved me money - I'd been paying for a cable TV box for that TV, as my wife's treadmill is next to my bike/trainer and she likes to watch TV while she runs. Now she can watch enough on ATV, so after about 1.5 years I've paid back the Apple TV Box cost and have been in positive ROI!
11-29-20, 03:48 PM
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I switched over to ATV for Zwift a few years ago, once you figure out getting around the ATV 3 Bluetooth connection limit, it is fantastic.
It also saved me money - I'd been paying for a cable TV box for that TV, as my wife's treadmill is next to my bike/trainer and she likes to watch TV while she runs. Now she can watch enough on ATV, so after about 1.5 years I've paid back the Apple TV Box cost and have been in positive ROI!
It also saved me money - I'd been paying for a cable TV box for that TV, as my wife's treadmill is next to my bike/trainer and she likes to watch TV while she runs. Now she can watch enough on ATV, so after about 1.5 years I've paid back the Apple TV Box cost and have been in positive ROI!
11-29-20, 06:41 PM
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12-02-20, 05:28 AM
#9
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There 's another way around the Apple TV Bluetooth limit: North Pole Engineering sells a $50 Bluetooth/ANT+ bridge that lets you merge multiple sensors and fool Apple TV. Info here.
I went that way because it has a few other features I wanted to use. The Zwift Companion App way of bridging worked fine for me, but this works even if the battery on my phone is dead when I want to ride.
Only down side: seems like once a year of so, there is a Zwift update that breaks something in the way the NPE CABLE bridge works and I'll get dropouts during a ride. They are pretty quick on fixing the problem and pushing out updates, very good support.
I went that way because it has a few other features I wanted to use. The Zwift Companion App way of bridging worked fine for me, but this works even if the battery on my phone is dead when I want to ride.
Only down side: seems like once a year of so, there is a Zwift update that breaks something in the way the NPE CABLE bridge works and I'll get dropouts during a ride. They are pretty quick on fixing the problem and pushing out updates, very good support.
12-02-20, 01:04 PM
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Similarly, I use the 4iiii HRM, which also acts as a ANT+/BLE bridge. It lets me use my Quarq PM (ANT+ only). And it's a really reliable HRM.
