Apple TV Had Enough

I have a Home Gym away from the house, kitted out with 50" TV and Tacx Neo for Zwift and always used a laptop mirrored onto the TV which was great but after a few ‘nearly dropped the laptop’ issues I looked long and hard and as an Apple user opted for the Apple 4K for connection and can honestly say since day one I have had nothing but issues. It is connected via ethernet so no wireless issues but partly because it would never connect to the wireless network in the gym although everything else does. I knew I would lose the cadence sensor and had to use a different HR strap other than my Garmin. As time has gone on I lose sound, reset and sound comes back, lose HR, drops out comes back or not at all, locks up, reset works again and no matter what I try or advice I take it never works seamlessly. As for cadence using the Neo how can I be going up a 6% gradient at 12KPH and have a cadence of 140!! or downhill not pedalling and have a cadence of 120,130, even160!!
Yesterday I relented and went back to the laptop, connected my Wahoo Cadence sensor, connected Garmin HR strap and everything worked. It was enjoyable again.
So why the rant, well did Apple add Zwift as an afterthought to gain more sales or did Zwift beg Apple to add it as a way of driving subscriptions but whichever Apple TV and Zwift do not work, it’s useless. In this day of technology surely Apple could add more Bluetooth or Ant+, make the connections more stable and Zwift programmers sort out other minor niggles.
I see a lot of others have issues with Apple TV and I know some have no issues but generally you look at the forums and you realise if you want to use a reliable cadence, HR and other options along with at least the Neo its not an option. £200 poorly spent.
Come on Apple/Zwift maybe even Tacx sort it out.
This extended rant is due to the lockdown and needing to get out more.

Some good news to look out for is Zwift is working on a update for ATV

What I don’t understand is how it can be absolutely faultless for some (including me) and then others have big problems.

I even seem to get on alright with the remote.

4 Likes

The Apple TV with kickr has worked well for me. I did have some issues after an update, but I found that I have to force quit the app. After I complete and save a ride before you exit the app, double click the home button. Now swipe up on the pad, which kills the app. This solved the issues I had.

hi what is the update? can you give more information?

I don’t know any more than I heard on the Zwiftcast. https://zwiftcast.podbean.com/

2 Likes

what podcast number was that? many thanks

AppleTv faultless for me . Using elite Drivo .

ATV with Neo for me, used to use it with a Kickr. Never had a problem. Handles big events really well, never a dropped connection. Never use my laptop now. Suppose with any product you always get some duds.

Its looks like I have a dud unit. I brought it in from the gym and plugged it into our TV, thinking I might as well get some use from it but it had no sound until I reset it, then dropped all connections again. Now it wont find anything on bluetooth so I will have to contact Apple.
Hopefully it can be sorted.

3 Likes

I see a lot of others have issues with PC or Mac and I know some have no issues.
I bought an AppleTV 4k just for Zwift as soon as the AppleTV app was announced. I got tired of doing the dongle dance with iPad (4x3 format - ugh) or iPhone.
At first, I also used a CABLE to get past the 2 other BT connections, but now with the KICKR supporting cadence, I don’t need to use the CABLE.
I can count on half of one hand the number of times I’ve had issues with the AppleTV.
I can even use the remote without issue. Go figure. I had to buy a silicone sleeve for it after dropping it (sweaty hands) and cracking the touch pad glass.

1 Like

When the ATV couldn’t connect wirelessly when everything else could, that was probably a sign that you have a bad unit.
Mine has worked great until this last update that doesn’t allow mixing BLE connections and ZCA connections… I keep loosing 1 or all my connections to the trainer mid-ride because the ZCA wifi connection is flakey… Under the old mixed BLE/ZCA connections, my Apple Watch HR would occasionally drop through ZCA, but the BLE connection between my Saris M2 and the Apple TV was bulletproof. I might need to invest in a Tickr to go back to BLE connections.

Rather than a tickr hrm you might look into the 4iiii Viiiiva hrm, as it acts as a bluetooth bridge to pair additional ant+ devices to the limited bluetooth channels on the ATV. Unless you can fit everything into the 2 available channels, then disregard my comment.

1 Like

I think the new Tickr X can also bridge the signal, not 100% sure however…

EDIT: it can estimate your cadence while cycling, not bridge the signal.

2 Likes

Late to the party, but ATV4K + Tacx Neo 2T and no issues at all. Even the generally hated “have to exit to change routes” isn’t that big of a deal, since startup is so fast :thinking: Was using it wirelessly (although it’s only about 6’ from the router), but in the last week or so decided (purely out of curiosity) to use it hard-wired to the router via cat-6 LAN; maybe just maybe the graphics/colors are now more vibrant, but it may just be placebo.

As always, make sure you don’t have zwift open on multiple devices and make sure you force quit zwift after each use. Otherwise, sorry to hear about your woes.

I am having issues too. What laptop do you use?

Neo1 cadence is unreliable when not pressing hard on the pedals, with my 3.5 year old Neo, and it seems to be getting worse. I’m unconvinced that my ATV4K is a factor in this. Indeed, Neo1 and Neo2 cadence is an known issue, fixed with a different measurement method in the Neo2T.

Otherwise, AppleTV has been essentially faultless since beta, other than the pairing bug introduced at the time of Innsbruck. Sure, the remote sucks, but that’s not Zwift’s fault. I’m anticipating a new Apple TV model to be released in the autumn, which I’ll be first in line for.

Really? Any details on the new ATV and what improvements it might offer over the current version? Zwift works great on mine, but I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to some improved graphics!

As things stand, none. Zwift would have to add/allow improvements, which they’ve not done so far for other devices with the same chip expected to be in the new Apple TV.

Well, not the answer I was hoping for, but also not unexpected. :frowning: Hopefully we’ll actually have 4K graphics on an ATV 4K someday.