All of the ErgVideo sessions are defined relative to the FTP (read about FTP) of the rider providing the point-of-view of the action. So when your ErgVideo characters are shown doing 100% of their FTP, you will be required to do 100% of your FTP. This way, you get the same training effect and perceived effort as the athletes in the ErgVideo. So if your FTP is 200W and the athlete's FTP is 400W, it doesn't make sense to ask you to put-out 400W (which is 200% of your FTP) but rather 200W. Typically you will both feel the same perceived effort and you will train your threshold zone capacity in this case, "equally" to that of the riders in the video. This predictability, along with the smart trainer's ability to hold you on the target power, is what makes ErgVideo so effective as a training tool.
But all of this precision-training requires that you know your FTP reasonably well. If you set your FTP too low, rides will be too easy and your training may not be as effective as it could be. If it is set too high, rides will be impossibly difficult, grinding you to a breathless halt, and the same can be said: your training may not be as effective as it could be (!)
ErgVideo provides a solution with the Threshold Test ErgVideo. It puts you through a prescribed warmup and a standardized, repeatable test with which to determine your threshold power. You use the result as your threshold power level in your rider settings. Studios can run threshold tests on up to 24 riders at once, just like any other ErgVideo session. Check our video tutorial help page for an easy to follow, step by step walkthrough of the threshold testing procedure with ErgVideo.
The two threshold test ErgVideos are available as part of your subscription.
On Feb 13, 2025, our streaming service partner made a change that breaks ErgVideo streaming playback in the desktop application. It came as an unannounced surprise.
The ErgVideo application has been out of development for several years and supported only for current subscribers. Costs to update and further maintain the application and web services infrastructure now exceed revenues.
As such, we have:
Refunded any subscription that was affected by an outage Feb 13. That is, any subscription that renewed after Jan 13, 2025.
Terminated all recurring monthly subscriptions as of today, Feb 17, 2025. You will see no new charges.
Further, on May 31, 2025, we will:
Remove all web services and the website. This means that the free ErgVideo desktop software will stop working on that date.
Be assured that these are not temporary measures while the outage exists. We are no longer investigating a fix. It is truly the end of the ErgVideo application, web services, and support.
If you purchased a legacy video license (DVD or one-time download), you will still be able to playback videos in any desktop player like Windows "Films and TV" app, or "Windows Media Player"**. What won't work (after May 31) is the desktop software ("ErgVideo 6.009") that controlled your trainer with its own synchronized video player. Since our first release in 2007, we've always provided, maintained, and supported the desktop software for free.
Thank you for your business and understanding,
Paul Smeulders
ErgVideo Inc.
** If you did a standard install, the video files are in .wmv format and located in subfolders of C:\Users\Public\Videos\ErgVideo. Each subfolder is named by the title of the video.