Forum menu
Hi,
I am wanting to jump on the zwift bandwagon but need some help and advise. I am hoping to use Apple TV to access (rubbish home laptop). Trainer wise thinking of getting one of the following hammer, direto or wait for the new wahoo. Anybody use the above systems (obviously not the wahoo). I am mainly worried about Bluetooth limitations of apple would like trainer control, power, cadence and heart rate.
Thanks in advance
I Bluetooth the tacx cheapo one to my Mac and it’s been fine. Can’t see it being an issue
i did need to get an ant dongle for HRM and cadence from the bike (but really - cadence was “ok” from the tacx). Better turbos may handle cadence better
bluetooth on the Mac app only allowed one BT connection- not sure if the Apple TV will handle more than one connection
I run Zwift on an Apple TV 4K.
They only support bluetooth connectivity and only have 3 channels with one being taken up by the apple remote.
The Tacx NEO takes up 1 of the channels and is able to transmit power, cadence and trainer control with the HRM using the other channel. Do a bit of research on the trainer you are looking at, I suspect the types you have mentioned all just use the 1 channel and are ok at calculating your cadence.
There are dongles out there that can take ANT+ sources and bundle them into 1 bluetooth source but I have not needed to try or buy one of them yet.
Another option - you can use an iPhone as a "bridge" from multiple bluetooth devices to the Apple TV 4K.
You run the Zwift companion app on your iPhone (a useful thing to do any way when riding on Zwift). You then pair the trainer, HRM, cadence etc via bluetooth with the iPhone (within the Zwift companion app) and then the app sends the information over wifi to the Apple TV (Apple TV and iPhone have to be on the same wifi network).
Worked for me, although I've now moved the trainer back to the office so I can use the iMac again. I do prefer the higher res graphics on an iMac (with Ultra settings) than the Apple TV can muster. But that's just (minor) cosmetics; I also get to use the 100" projector screen ;o)
[EDIT] Just to be extra clear - the trainer control (resistance, road feel etc) works fine with this approach. In fact, I'm fairly sure I got slightly less lag on changes to road feel (Tacx NEO) when paired through the iPhone app.
As above you can use the zwift companion app to add more bluetooth devices.
I only use the 4k apple tv to run zwift. its been 100% reliable and much easier than messing around with my mac or macbook. Its been so reliable i bought another apple tv just to run zwift in the garage.
I run Apple TV 4k system with an Elite Direto with a wahoo HR strap
All rides measure HR, Power, cadence without issue.
Its simple to use. Just remember to close down zwift after each session, because if not, it can sometimes not show other riders.