Review of Video Based Rouvy Apps

I started looking for an indoor cycling app because my real cycling was frequently interrupted by the almost daily rain.

I was impressed by Youtube videos of GCN presenters doing their cycling at home in front of a TV of photorealictic videos. After listening to their comments, I was introduced to Zwift.

These apps should need sensors or smart trainers. I only have a Zero Cycling Trainer that I bought a few years ago for my wife to train prior to our trip to Japan. It costed me Rm 600 with a huge discount at that time. What impressed me at that time was that the resistance is magnetic and it has many health tracking functions. It was so successful that she did not need to ride on a wheelchair that I brought along. In Seoul, I pushed her around the city for more than 20 km up even to the Seoul Tower, around a year before.

To give information to the Zwift app, we need sensors to send data to it. On looking at the sensor requirements of Zwift, it only requires Power sensor or Speed sensor. It also does not require Smart Trainers that can control resistance automatically to simulate hill climbs. I can just choose an unspecified trainer and it worked. The app connected to either Bluetooth or Ant+.

As it turned out, I had bought a Cadence or Speed sensor from Thinkrider for RM 20 a few years ago. I tried to find apps to revord my cycling cadence but none was successful although a few apps detected the sensor in Bluetooth as well as Ant+. Luckily I did not lose my manual because the sensor is identified as a Cycplus device. I installed it at the left crank handle and reset as a speed sensor by sliding a micro switch inside the sensor by removing its battery.


It was successfully casted to my LG TV. Set it at the Connection and Sharing setting. Trying to install a screen sharing app from LG failed.

After cycling for a few km in Zwift, I realised that Zwift uses a virtual world. I saw a few places in Paris but not sure if they are photo realistic. I do not like this. I cycle to see the world while experiencing the sweat of doing it. So I started reading about other apps. Only 2 are outstanding and recommended. Zwift is consideref the best but the second is Rouva which the reviewers mentioned as using real video of cycling sites.

I also tried other cycling trianing apps in PlayStore but these 2 were still much better. So I tried installing the Thinkrider sensor. I chose a trainer that I can afford, the Kinetic Road Machine, because it is the cheapest and similar devices are available in cheaper clones in Shopee.


For a detailed video on a full setup of a Smart Trainer watch the video from GCN Tech.


I started with Black Mountain in UK because I want to recall my memories when I was in UK in the 1980s. I downloaded the 1080p video and the display set to "me" which is not to show the rider, just the view of the rider, which is I.

The next was Alpenbrevet - Oberalppas. It is actually 23 km long but you notice that the summary is only for 16 km. This is because, for this record, I started where I left off which was at 8 km. You can change the location point by dragging it.

If you stop pedalling, you will pause. You cannot pause for too long because all data will be reset when you returned. It happened a few times before so there is no record in the history. No need to press the continue or pause because you control them by just pedalling. It took a few seconds to respond but better than touching the screen of your phone that may be charging at a far place.

I noticed that when going downhill, I can achieve speeds of more than 70 km/h, which means that Rouvy does not depend on the sensor to determine the speed of the bicycle. Similarly when going uphill but I am not sure because the speed is low.

The next place is a flat place. You can determine the inclination from the yellow line at the bottom of the screen. I was not able to remove this line. This line also shows your current location which you can change by dragging it. You can also see other participants so you can invite friends to join you in the ride. I can overtake them or they overtake you. At near the end, I saw someone in front of me but the label shows my name and there is no one on the yellow line. I suspect there is bug, which shows myself as a rider, instead of just my view in front of me.

At the top left is the reading from your sensor. It will appear once you pedal and below it, is an exahgerated inclination in %. I suspect it is more than 3 times exaggerated. The yellow line shows a more correct inclination.

At the centre right of the screen, you see the Traveller Challenge which I joined. I have 15 days to travel all over the world. There are other Challenges that you can join. The trial period is for 14 days after you verified your email.

One major weakness of Rouvy is the lack of 4K videos. I thought there are not many Video Cycling Apps but it turned out FullGaz can display in 4K. Watch the comparison video below.


Displays

When run from Windows 10 from my Lenovo Y50-70, with 4K display, I can only mirror the display wirelessly to my 4K HDR LG TV. Just as good as Android screen cast from my Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro.

From an HP ZBOOK 15 G1, I can mirror its 1080p screen to the TV using a Displayport to HDMI adapter.

Macbook Pro Retina, late 2013, can mirror its screen with TV display optimised. 

Quality of display is not good because the video is choppy. Kinomap has better display because we can run at recording speed. Rouvy is supposed to be able to play the video at recording speed by changing the Reality setting but I cannot change this setting in all versions.

Uploading Video

Rouvy allows users to upload videos and can set them for personal use but Rouvy offers no incentive. Kinomap waives a month subscription fee for at least one accepted upload, and shares some revenue.

Rouvy and Kinomap accepts videos that are bright and has little vibration. Can accept lower resolution. Also accept alternative GPS formats. Kinomap even accepts embedded GPS data.

Rouvy needs at least 30 seconds of video

It depends on few factors, for example, if you want to create a route with or without the video, or if you have a GPS file, or are you entering route points manually.

Note: Route video must take longer than 30s

Kinomap needs at least 5 minutes of video
This is not about the video definition HD or not but the quality (lightning, vibration, etc..).


- The Distance and the duration are too short: a minimum of 5 minutes and 1 kilometer

FullGaz is more strict


We will only accept rides that are filmed using the following cameras...

Any GoPro 8
Any GoPro 9
Pro tip: Invest in a 128gb memory card!

We require data from either a Garmin or Wahoo GPS bike computer
You also MUST have a speed sensor for distance accuracy

Choices of Videos

Rouvy has more hilly videos than Kinomap. It appears as though Rouvy caters more to cyclist who want to push themselves.

For an elderly man, this is dangerous but we can manually set resistance to the lowest so that we can enjoy uphill rides.

Kinomap has more varieties. Both are mostly limited to 1080p. Rouvy has a few videos in 1400p formats.

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