Help w New Pain Cave AV setup
I am building out the basement of our new house and have a sizeable pain cave under construction. I am planning on 3 TVs (they are ridiculously cheap these days) and planning to use them at the same time.
thinking is I can Zwift on one, youtube/netflix/amazon on #2 and #3 could be email if doing a long day ride, or be available for a training guest to connect to.
the issue is how to connect the TVs to computer / control.
I will likely have all 3 connected with CAT5 cable.
I was thinking I could have 1 dedicated PC (a Lenovo Tiny) that can handle output to 3 Screens hidden on the wall and just have a wireless keyboard/mouse on Wahoo desk at bike...
not sure if this is a great setup, should work, only issue is perhaps ANT+ making the jump 12-14' without a dongle extension.
I am sure there is a better way I am not thinking of? I know I could just do a simple HDMI switch, trying to avoid laying cables across the floor.
while we are at it, any ideas for the guest trainer / computer solution? I do have an extra old computer that I could easily set up for that person to just log into their zwift account.
Comments
following.
While my setup isn't fancy, it gets the job done. In my garage I have 3 TCL TVS with any and all of the apps you could want to watch whatever streaming service you desire. I have one in front of the treadmill, one in front of the Kickr Snap, and one in front of the Kickr Bike. They are connected by WiFi for streaming. Underneath them I have a long folding table with fans and audio gear, and to put the MacBooks on. Under those, storage cabinet things with various triathlon related gear, supplies, tools, and whatnot.
When I ride or run, I only have Zwift running and listen to metal. If I watch TV I'll zone out on that and not do the work. I connect my MacBook to the TV with a Thunderbolt to HDMI cable. When My wife rides, she has Zwift on one TV and a streaming service on another. When she runs, she just has a streaming service running on that TV. Have a thunderbolt to HDMI cable connected to each TV. So whoever is out there can just connect their MacBook to the TV thats needed. We have a 10' USB cable with an ANT dongle for each of the trainers.
We have a TV tray table between the bikes with a charging port on it so we can plug in our phones running the companion app and have misc items on it.
We went with the TCL TVs, aside from being stupid cheap with a great picture and features, unlike nearly all other TVs, they have a great phone app that you can control the TV with AND, and this is the best feature, it will bluetooth the audio to your earbuds/headphones. You don't need a bluetooth transmitter connected to the TV, which often causes a slight lag, leaving the audio and video out of synch. And the TVs we found with bluetooth capability were quite expensive.
On the other side of the garage is 3 beer fridges for easy access to recovery drinks.
Its an unfinished garage so it isn't pretty and doesn't need to be. There are the USB cables and power stripes on the floor. I thought about finishing it and making it a showoff worthy space. And adding Apple TV to each of them for running Zwift. But I'd rather put the money toward some of my other bad ideas.
@Brian Terwilliger , I’d love a picture or two!