I’m a pretty serious bike trainer user - setup in my garage, and currently run an old 9 year old laptop to display movies, Spinervals, and Sufferfests on a 17" screen.
TV prices are pretty dang low now - I can easily afford a big one to put on the floor in my garage in front of my bike.
My question though - is it worth it? DOes it actually improve the riding experience, say, if you have a big Sufferfest image? I’m always loathe to buy big items even if they’re not expensive, so if it doesn’t make that much of a difference, I’ll pass.
Would love to hear from folks who have upgraded to 30+" TVs for their bike trainer from laptops!
And on a related note, if anyone has any tips on either a good TV that they’d recommend, or tips on how to get it to play well with a computer laptop+wifi, would also be appreciated.
Its a 100x’s better. We just got a new TV for our family room so I got our old one for my “pain cave”. Going from 17" to 32" was amazing. Just make sure you put it at a “bike” level so you can see it the best when you are in the drops, aero etc.
On rest “active recovery” days or base days without hard efforts I play playstation on it.
Its a 100x’s better. We just got a new TV for our family room so I got our old one for my “pain cave”. Going from 17" to 32" was amazing. Just make sure you put it at a “bike” level so you can see it the best when you are in the drops, aero etc.
On rest “active recovery” days or base days without hard efforts I play playstation on it.
I’m going to put it on the floor of my garage - perfect for aerobar height watching. (It’s not going to be used at all indoors.)
Do you think 32" is a good size, or if I can fit it, would going hogwild with 50 be a lot better?
32 will be plenty big enough. 50 you will have to just sit back farther from the tv to make it worth it. Get one that has wifi built in so you can watch YouTube and Netfli. I like vizo and Samsung
I agree with the post that 50 would be too big, you would have to move it back a couple more feet. Having done the same thing last year, check to make sure your laptop can power the bigger screen, otherwise you will have to pay to upgrade your laptop as well.
I agree with the post that 50 would be too big, you would have to move it back a couple more feet. Having done the same thing last year, check to make sure your laptop can power the bigger screen, otherwise you will have to pay to upgrade your laptop as well.
Good advice, thx. Is it by screen resolution? My laptop can power some big screens, so I think it’ll be ok.
Resolution is the same. Except the bigger the tv u get the grainier the picture will be. That’s if your connecting a laptop. Cause it probably has a different resolution than what is native on tv.
32" is a perfect size; you may want to put it on a low table to put it at the right height for the trainer.
Your laptop almost certainly uses a VGA connector (15 pin D connector) to connect to the monitor. Look for a TV with the same input, and it will connect just like an external monitor. After that it’s pretty easy. Make sure to bump up the resolution on TV it’s native resolution for maximum video quality. Running at non-native resolution results in all sorts of re-scaling junk.
You may want to invest in noise-cancelling headphones. My 32" TV + DVDs + Bose QC15 headphones = trainer bliss.
EDIT: a 9 year old laptop is pretty old, unless it was high end and even so it may not be able to drive a modern TV at maximum resolution. But if it’s working for you now, it will work the same way on a bigger monitor.
Just bought a 32" LCD on Boxing Day for the pain cave. Now I just have to figure out a stand that can switch from low for trainer to high for treadmill (could be as technical as stacking one footstool on top of another). Will still run Trainerroad on a netbook but it might be fun to display it on the TV sometimes. Can’t go without it now.
I have a 32" TV in my training area, you’ll have to put it on a box / low table. If you put it on the floor it will be to low to watch when biking. I have mine setup with treadmill / bike in the garage.
In our house, we have a 32" flat screen in front of our treadmill and trainers. Out in the living room, we have a 10 year old heavy CRT TV. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’d buy the largest TV you can afford. 32" is actually really small, and I think you will end up wanting somthing larger. Id go 50" minimum. I have used both for my trainer, and really prefer my 52" to my 36". I am planning on setting up a projector with a 100" screen in the future, but that has yet to be accomplished
In the basement, I have a 46" sony from 5 or so years ago along with HBO and Starz, DVR. IPad that sits on the aero bars. Playstation 3 for movies, games (when the ride is all tempo or easy) and internet. Its a little much at times but it gives me options so those 3 hour rides are not mind numbing. The problem with this setup is that I cant hear the sound as I cant have it too loud to wake up the family. Blah
