Zwift set up woes

[ravenbait]

I got a Tacx Flow a while back and have been using the free Tacx trial. I enjoy Tacx. I know it's not as popular, but I really like the movies that let me cycle somewhere real, virtually (if that makes sense).

But my free trial ran out, and I also had a free Zwift trial, so I thought I'd give it a go.

On Tacx, I run it on my Samsung S20 FE via a Google TV Chromecast when I'm riding a movie. (When I'm doing a workout, I just watch Netflix.) It occasionally freezes, but normally changing the rotation of the phone sorts it out, and the effort/speed algorithm seems pretty good.

I tried a similar set up on Zwift. I was initially surprised, but pleased, to get in-game sounds via the Chromecast bluetooth, but both the image and the sound on the screen were horribly jerky and laggy. Also, According to Swift I was riding around at about 15km/h at an average of 145W, which does not match anything I was doing on Tacx.

My laptop is 8 yo and I'm not currently in the market for a new one. I have a desktop computer close enough to cast to the Chromecast.

Questions:

1. Is there something (anything!) I can do to make the speed more realistic? I got a puncture during the first set-up ride, so I think it has a very poor opinion of my performance.
2. Could I use the companion app to control a cast from my desktop to the TV?
3. Is there anything else I could do to make my Zwift experience live up to expectations?

I was so frustrated with Zwift last night, and I've enjoyed Tacx enough that I subscribed to Tacx just to get some miles in, but I have a friend who is a big Zwift user and no longer lives near me, and I like the idea of being able to ride with them virtually once they have recovered from long covid. Or, indeed, anyone OTP who might fancy a virtual pootle. I don't think I can do that on Tacx, although it would be nicer than the Wii Sports Resort experience of Zwift.

Sam

[rafletcher]

I can't help with Zwift, and perhaps you'll decide it's for you once you get it sorted (there's a whole Zwift thread here somewhere with loads of knowledge on it but I'm damned if I can find it - then I did) but if cycling somewhere "real" does it for you, I'd suggest trialling FulGaz as well.

ETA - found it  https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=116122.0

[L CC]

I got a Tacx Flow a while back and have been using the free Tacx trial. I enjoy Tacx. I know it's not as popular, but I really like the movies that let me cycle somewhere real, virtually (if that makes sense).

But my free trial ran out, and I also had a free Zwift trial, so I thought I'd give it a go.

On Tacx, I run it on my Samsung S20 FE via a Google TV Chromecast when I'm riding a movie. (When I'm doing a workout, I just watch Netflix.) It occasionally freezes, but normally changing the rotation of the phone sorts it out, and the effort/speed algorithm seems pretty good.

I tried a similar set up on Zwift. I was initially surprised, but pleased, to get in-game sounds via the Chromecast bluetooth, but both the image and the sound on the screen were horribly jerky and laggy. Also, According to Swift I was riding around at about 15km/h at an average of 145W, which does not match anything I was doing on Tacx.

My laptop is 8 yo and I'm not currently in the market for a new one. I have a desktop computer close enough to cast to the Chromecast.

Questions:

1. Is there something (anything!) I can do to make the speed more realistic? I got a puncture during the first set-up ride, so I think it has a very poor opinion of my performance.
2. Could I use the companion app to control a cast from my desktop to the TV?
3. Is there anything else I could do to make my Zwift experience live up to expectations?

I was so frustrated with Zwift last night, and I've enjoyed Tacx enough that I subscribed to Tacx just to get some miles in, but I have a friend who is a big Zwift user and no longer lives near me, and I like the idea of being able to ride with them virtually once they have recovered from long covid. Or, indeed, anyone OTP who might fancy a virtual pootle. I don't think I can do that on Tacx, although it would be nicer than the Wii Sports Resort experience of Zwift.

Sam

1) If you're doing 15kph @ 145W you're either 150kg or going solely up a big ass virtual hill. Check your profile settings, and the route you chose.
2) Yes
3) You will get a better Zwift experience from the PC than your phone. Those Mario Kart graphics are greedier than they look.

[ravenbait]

Thanks! Am now waiting for the apparently enormous update to download to my PC. Have figured out casting desktop and have installed the companion app.

If the Mario Kart graphics send my fan into overdrive, Ill quit. My phone got quite hot yesterday!

Disappointed there's no option to use your internet handle as your display name.

Sam

[L CC]

Erm, yes there is?
You can call yourself whatever you like?

[drossall]

You've definitely got the right settings for your Flow? I started with the virtual power thing, using speed and cadence sensors plus the HRM. I have a really basic set-up with a single-speed bike on a wheel-on trainer. I was crawling. Then someone generously offered me a disused PowerTap wheel at a very favourable price, and I suddenly went 50% faster. My point being that your sensor set-up and so on can have quite an effect.

[ravenbait]

Erm, yes there is?
You can call yourself whatever you like?

Figured that out after having another go.

It was much better on the PC, but it did kick the fans into turbo, which I guess is what they are there for -- although I always have to switch the machine off to convince the fans to stop sounding like a jet engine (it's a Chillblast machine that came overclocked for some reason, and I'm assured it's working as it should). The main issue I had was Chromecast dropping the cast if the screen was moving too slowly, because if there's no or inadequate movement on the screen for a number of seconds, it assumes you've stopped. And it completely lost my HRM belt for significant chunks of the time, which is far more significant.

Also I can't have tunes, because that's too much bandwidth and makes everything jerky.

But the dinosaurs were fun?

I expect it makes more sense if you're a very sociable person, which I'm not, but I can see that exploring things could be interesting.

Sam

[drossall]

I don't truly "get" the social side of Zwift. I receive and give Ride Ons, but not with any sense of purpose. I very much enjoy group rides and similar events, but I don't bother with the chatting during them - I'm too busy trying to keep up! It's more about getting some pacing and being carried along in the group - like in the real world, really.

[L CC]

I guess it depends on your room's geography but Mr Smith uses the TV as a monitor so no casting. There's a finite number of connections available, even in the ether. We also use his TV sound for the tunes, so that's even fewer connections. Headphones are for discord (actual talking) or when I'm racing and need the sound drilling into my brain to drown out the 'please stop' noises from my heart, lungs and legs.

The [REVO] bit is my virtual club. Women's virtual cycling. Check us out.

[ravenbait]

I guess it depends on your room's geography but Mr Smith uses the TV as a monitor so no casting. There's a finite number of connections available, even in the ether. We also use his TV sound for the tunes, so that's even fewer connections. Headphones are for discord (actual talking) or when I'm racing and need the sound drilling into my brain to drown out the 'please stop' noises from my heart, lungs and legs.

The [REVO] bit is my virtual club. Women's virtual cycling. Check us out.

Yep. My set up is in the front hall, just outside my office, inside the (hardly used) front door to the house. My desktop is in the office. There isn't a cable long enough to run from my desktop to the TV I use as a monitor, so casting is my only option. That said, I suppose if I had a super long HDMI cable I could make it work that way. I don't want to have sounds coming out the telly because that disturbs Mr Bait, hence the headphones. But I could use an HDMI cable and have just the sounds via bluetooth and that might work.

If I can get this to the point where I'm likely to keep at it, I'll definitely look up your club, thanks! At the moment, it's down to whether or not it keeps on dropping my HRM.

Sam

[Defblade]

Also I can't have tunes, because that's too much bandwidth and makes everything jerky.

Not tried with my new (to me; refurbished) Zwifting PC, but the old one would not do anything else internet-based while Zwifting. But the suggestion is that it's CPU limited within the machine, (almost) certainly nowhere near the bandwidth coming in to your house... So I'm used to running Zwift on the PC, with a small set of speakers plugged in for game sounds, and then streaming Planet Rock on my phone which is bluetoothed to a rather more powerful set of speakers

[ravenbait]

Not tried with my new (to me; refurbished) Zwifting PC, but the old one would not do anything else internet-based while Zwifting. But the suggestion is that it's CPU limited within the machine, (almost) certainly nowhere near the bandwidth coming in to your house... So I'm used to running Zwift on the PC, with a small set of speakers plugged in for game sounds, and then streaming Planet Rock on my phone which is bluetoothed to a rather more powerful set of speakers

I don't want to use external sounds because it would disturb Mr Bait. I'm using my phone for the companion app, as the PC is too far away to control without adding yet more bluetooth gubbins. I think my best bet is to use the desktop with a very long HDMI cable, run MediaMonkey (minimised) for tunes bluetoothed to a set of headphones, and shut down everything else, including switching off my regular monitors.

All of which seems almost as much effort as just going for a ride outside, and is way more involved than I have to do with the Tacx app.

Sam