I bought this for my fiance's birthday today. Below is my post previous to finding on google an Amazon post back in 2013 that helped us resolve the issue. Read what our problem was then I posted below a review I found through google that helped us solve. So anyone with this problem read my entire post. On 5-28-2016: Hooked up today and already having issues. Hooked it up to my 65inch Samsung TV and whenever we rewind or fast-forward on the DVR the sound bar sound cuts off the sound completely but the sound bar is still on. In order to fix the issue we have to turn off the TV and then turn the TV back on. This has happened 6 times in the past 3 hours that we have had it hooked up. I am very disappointed. I think I will send this back and get a different brand. SOLUTION FOUND On 5-29-2016: ATTENTION PEOPLE WHO CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO PREVENT THE SOUND BAR FROM GOING SILENT INBETWEEN CHANNEL CHANGING/inbetween cutscenes in a game:::
I have seen several people mention that they dislike how the sound bar automatically seems to turn off the moment it stops receiving any audio signal, even if it's very brief. I have even read how some customers ended up returning the product because they couldn't figure out how to turn off this feature. Reading the manual I found the solution where I least expected it. You can turn off this automatic default feature by turning off the VZtv Rmt setting. For some reason, they combined the automatic sound bar turn off with the VIZIO TV remote setting. Anyways, once you turn it off the soundbar no longer automatically turns off when changing channels or in-between custcenes while playing a game.
As for the rest of the product: It's great as long as you plug it in correctly. If you do not see the DOLBY DIGITAL /DTS light when you turn on your sound bar and TV, then it's because your tv is not outputting true 5.1 sound. Yes, your sound bar will automatically create a faux 5.1 surround, but for the real 5.1 quality you will have to connect your soundbar directly to whatever you are using to stream or play movies and not the TV.
Something else I haven't seen other users mention is how shows you may be watching via a streaming service, such as Netflix and Crunchyroll, will not output true 5.1 even though all the settings are set up correctly and the soundbar is lit up with the DOLBY/DTS light. It seems to be because the show you are trying to stream isn't calibrated to output at true 5.1 for whatever reason and you end up not having any output in the satellite speakers. To get around this I take advantage of the previously mentioned faux 5.1 surround that you hear when you connect your soundbar directly to the tv.
This is how my setup works so that I choose between true 5.1 and the faux 5.1 depending on what I'm watching:
I have both my PC and my PS4 connected to my TV.
I have my Sound Bar connected via optical cable to my PS4 for true 5.1, which I use for playing games, movies, and streaming services.
Additionally I have component cables connecting my sound bar to my TV for when something I am streaming on my PS4 isn't outputting true 5.1 and I want to switch to the faux 5.1, or for when I am using my TV to watch content I downloaded on my PC. You will have to change some computer settings to have your PC send audio signal to your TV for the component cables to pickup and send to the Soundbar.
Just use the remote control to switch which input you want to use for sound for what you watching (Optical Cable for true 5.1, Aux for faux 5.1).
You'll want to pump up most of the sound settings from 7 to like 9s and 11s though to get the best sound output.
NOTE:::: When I connected my Sound Bar directly to my PS4, I noticed the TV was no longer in sync to the sound. This was quickly resolved by locating and selecting the "GAME (standard)" viewing mode on my tv. Apparently if your TV has some special effects that it applies to what you are viewing, it may cause the picture to go out of sync with the sound. Selecting the GAME view mode on your TV automatically disables any special effects your TV may be trying to apply so that it resolves any sync issues.
Well that about covers it. I tried to discuss the technical stuff that I didn't see other users mention. It's a great buy and great value. Great product. 5stars.
The sound bar has an energy saving feature that will put the sound bar into stand by after a period of inactivity. This can be disabled:
To enable/disable this function, press and hold down the Power button and Volume down buttons on the sound bar for 5 seconds.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I own 2 of these, and am considering buying a 3rd for my parents.
The sound quality is good, and will do for 90% of bedroom or living room theaters--anyone who is an audiophile won't even be viewing this product, so you can assume that includes you.
I like the size (most sound bars are larger) and simplicity.
The remote is small and simple, and is also easy to program into a universal remote such as
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007TAMJWQ
or
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BYVHCXC
I'd actually prefer a smaller soundbar, but I'll take what I can get.
I saw all of these other more negative reviews, and wanted to post my experience. Also note that I got this on an Amazon Goldbox deal for $52, so my review is based on this price point.
Firstly, the soundbar was packaged well, wrapped in foam with foam pieces around the end, and the box itself shipped in a larger box with paper padding. The soundbar looks new - no evidence of any prior owners like you sometimes get with refurbished products. The remote was wrapped, with separate wrapped batteries. It came with a digital optical cable, a digital coaxial cable, and stereo (red/white) RCA cables, so that you could hook it up no matter what output your TV supports (they get extra points for coming with a digital optical cable! Even my 5.1 surround Samsung unit didn't come with one).
Setup was easy, and it perfectly matches the horizontal space my 32" LG TV takes up (the soundbar was for a smaller TV in the bedroom with a Chromecast hooked up to it). I simply plugged the provided digital optical cable into my TV's optical output, and into the input on the soundbar, then plugged the soundbar into the wall.
I started casting some music to the Chromecast, and the soundbar switched to the appropriate input automatically. The sound quality is leaps and bounds over the built in speakers of my LG TV. I read the instruction manual (took ~5 minutes - very well written manual - clear and concise), and tweaked the sound a bit. Bass and Treble can be adjusted -6/0/+6, and the settings that sounded best to my ears were +4 Bass (to compensate for no subwoofer) and +1 Treble. With these settings you get a surprisingly large amount of Bass (certainly more than my TV speakers provided) and very clear highs and mids. I only have the soundbar turned up to maybe 10% of the maximum volume and it's plenty loud - the power this little bar can put out is good. I also have the DTS TruVolume option turned on, since it's for the bedroom and this allows me to keep the volume quiter on the soundbar while still hearing the lower volume parts of a show/movie. The DTS TruSurround I kept turned off - I didn't like how it sounded. That's my one true negative - the TruSurround option just makes the sound more muddled - you lose the bass even if you crank it to +6, and it mixes the treble and mid more closely together. I didn't buy the bar for a surround sound replacement though, so I won't remove a star.
Perfectly for me, my LG remote's power button and volume buttons turn on/off the soundbar and turn the volume up/down. So turning on/off my TV also turns on/off the soundbar, and I can use my TV remote to change the volume, so after setup I was able to stow the soundbar remote away. The remote has a Bluetooth pairing button on it, but the top of the soundbar does as well, so I wasn't losing that functionality. Speaking of the Bluetooth pairing, it was simple. Hold the Bluetooth button down for 5 seconds, and the soundbar's LEDs start running up and down, letting you know it's in "pairing" mode. My phone saw it right way, and paired immediately. Range seems about the same as my Amazon Echo - just fine. I don't see myself using the Bluetooth feature often with the Chromecast, but I wanted to test it for this review.
I think the negative reviews for this product didn't know how to set it up properly. For 2.0 units you should always (in my opinion) tweak the treble/bass settings to accommodate for the missing woofer. This unit makes it so easy to do too. Also, my LG TV's audio options (fake surround, ClearVoice, etc.) were initially affecting the output to the soundbar, making it sound much worse. I went into the audio options and disabled the TV speakers (which disabled these additional options) and the audio coming out of this soundbar is excellent now. Other reviewers need to be cognizant of the fact that your TV's audio settings may be affecting the quality of the sound pushed to the soundbar, and since most are designed for the tinny television speakers in the TV, it makes the sound coming out of the bar worse.
All in all, for $52, this is a great unit if you're looking to add great sound to a smaller TV set (fits my 32" TV exactly). Has great volume range, sounds great, has Bluetooth, and (for me at least) works with my television remote, so I don't have to keep two remotes on my nightstand. If you can find it on sale again, it's definitely worth the price. It might even be worth the regular $99, though I haven't researched what else is available at the price range - there may be better options. For $52 though, you can't go wrong with this Vizio.
P.S. - even though the soundbar doesn't come with a subwoofer, it still has a subwoofer output. This means at any point in the future, if you buy an RCA powered subwoofer, you can add it to this soundbar to turn it from a 2.0 setup into a 2.1. I like that it has the option.
I am so pleased. Setup was a snap. I found that the only output I had from my Philips LED tv was the digital coaxial. No problem... the cable that I needed was one of three types included. Followed the quick start guide and as soon as everything was on I had sound from the new sound bar. Our room is about 13*15 and the sound is perfect. Now my husband and I can hear the voices clearly and we don't have to keep adjusting the volume up/down/up/down. Why didn't I buy this sooner? I don't think I will mount this on the wall just yet. There are more inputs that I will take advantage of and now I can play my entire music library from my ipad :)
I received my speaker in 2 days. Took me 1 hour to completely install and teach myself the remote control options. My $1,200 samsung TV's sound was good for MOST tv shows and sporting events BUT when I watched public tv and the english progamming I couldnt understand what people like Sherlock Holmes, the detective masterpiece mysteries and most all of the "kings and queens" movies, the accent was hard to understand. With this product I understand ALL the dialog. With this sound bar you can not only get digital audio but also trebel, bass, surround and subwoofer all easy access. It sounds better than my stereo speakers on my stereo music receivers. Small, easy to operate, easy to install (I'm 69 years old) its just great, now I can watch all my favorite shows and understand every word.
Feature Product
- 95 dB of room-filling, crystal clear sound with less than 1% total harmonic distortion. Sound Bar Frequency: 70 Hz - 19 KHz
- Built-in Bluetooth lets you lose the wires and listen to your music with a tap of a finger
- Easy upgrade that boosts sound with a powerful punch
- Premium audio with DTS Studio SoundTM, DTS Tru Volume TM and DTS TruSurroundTM
- Easy Setup - Connect the Sound Bar to your TV using one of the included cables. Refer user manual for troubleshooting steps.
Description
The all-new VIZIO 29" 2.0 Sound Bar offers amazing audio in a compact size. Its sophisticated new design makes it an attractive addition to any 32"+ class TV. Use Bluetooth to stream music from your smartphone, tablet or computer. With everything you need for a quick and easy setup, upgrading to an amazing home theater experience has never been easier - plug the Sound Bar in, connect it to your TV, sit back and enjoy. The 2.0 Sound Bar features two powerful full-range stereo speakers that boost your audio and deliver amazing sound. Streamlined Design VIZIO Sound Bars are crafted to accentuate your TV with a minimalist body style that blends in with any room of your home. VIZIO Sound Bars utilize DTS audio technologies to deliver elevated multi-channel audio for the most immersive sound quality.
I went from mediocre TV volume to WOW! AMAZING! While watching a TV show I thought someone was yelling outside
my window to my right to realize it was really coming from the speaker! How could such a small device
create such a wide stereo field? The instructions and set up were super easy! Great adjustable bass & treble.
The surround sound mode is incredible! More than enough sound and volume for a regular sized living room.
I also connected my iPhone & iPod via bluetooth to this unit and they sounded great!
FYI: I have an Amazon fire stick with Netflix & HBO, an incredisonic media player and Playstation 3 hooked up to my flatscreen TV and had no
problems at all with the sound bar. It worked with all of these devices. Overall very, very pleased with this unit.
I recommend this to anyone who wants great sound from a relatively small and inexpensive sound bar.
PROS
*Sounds pretty good.
*Mounts nicely with the TV using a cheap mounting kit that'll be useful for other sound bars later.
*It's pretty accurate from to 80Hz-19.9kHz. At this price point, that's not bad.
CONS
*Optical input wasn't operational on my unit.
*Requires it's own remote (The vizio TV remote should operate it, IMO)
*Frustrating 'Input' identification - the lights are very close together and it takes about ~5 seconds at each of 6 inputs before audio plays if you have to guess...
I purchased this VIZIO sound bar after reading many of the reviews on Amazon. I was not disappointed. I had received a new 60 inch Vizio TV for Christmas, but gosh golly geez I had to crank the sound up to 50+ to hear much of anything. I went on the hunt for a solution and was surprised to see this sound bar also made by Vizio on Amazon with some of the highest reviews amongst available sound bars. The Bluetooth on the bar was very appealing. The price was on point for what I was looking to spend so I decided to give this bad boy a try.
The initial setup was pretty straight forward and the included instruction manual was very clear. I initially tried using the included optical cable hooked into my TV, but the sound was hit or miss. Sometimes the sound would come out of the TV sometimes it would come out of the sound bar. I decided to give it one last try with the other included cables and now it works perfectly! I found the sound to be very crisp and consistent. When I use Spotify on the sound bar the music sounds great as well. I would definitely recommend this sound bar to anyone looking for a reasonably priced bar for their new or old TV.
One of the better bang for your buck sound bars I would have to say for the lower end pieces. I had been shopping online and reviewing many sound bars wondering which one to get, and everyone kept leading me back to this particular one. The only nitpick I can give out of this is the volume control. The differences between the notches of volume are a huge jump, and I wish that was a little more planned out from Vizio because it's either extremely too loud or too quiet. I wish there was an option for sound compression to help avoid the huge gaps from commercial to show because the sound levels are extreme. One more thing too I wish there was an hdmi in and output but again I am guessing this is an older model. Overall again other than the sound flaw I am very happy with the aesthetics of this product and the bluetooth capability.
After reading some reviews, I'll admit, I was hesitant but after going ahead and pulling the trigger to buy it, my hubby and I are in awe of this simple low cost device. I suppose it depends on what you are comparing the device to, as to whether or not, it's a good buy/value. We have an "older" Sharp 65" tv that's hanging above our fireplace and the speakers scuk. There are still cords to figure out how to hide (pictured below), it's about as good as it can get for the price. Our Sharp tv starts sounding muffled/fuzzy when you hadn't quite reached 50% of the tv's volume capacity. That sucked. We have been "living with it" for a while in hopes of buying a nice Bose wireless system but that day didn't appear to be coming anytime soon so this Vizio soundbar fit our bill almost perfectly. Low cost, one speaker, minimal wires, Bluetooth and overall decent sound quality and took about 10 minutes from opening box to having it setup. Only had it 24 hours now but if it dies anytime soon, I'll come back and let readers know.
Also just ordered this - Economical Wire Channel Raceway (5ft Stick) - 5 Pieces to hide the cables. Should be good to go for a while yet.
0 comments:
Post a Comment