VIZIO - 5.1-Channel V-Series Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer and Dolby Audio 5.1/DTS Virtual:X - Black

I got this soundbar in order to complete my home theater setup and ditch my TV’s wimpy integrated speakers. Good sound makes a difference to the movie watching experience and I was happy with the performance I got from the Vizio V51-H6. DESIGN The soundbar and satellite speakers have a nice industrial design with their U-shaped textured black plastic and cloth cover over the speakers. The cloth does collect dust over time but can be cleaned with a vacuum. The soundbar is not that tall, but it did block the IR receiver of my Samsung TV so make sure to check that your TV stand is tall enough. The soundbar connects to the subwoofer wirelessly which allows an easy installation of the sub and the satellite speakers. The only wires are those connecting the wireless sub to the satellite speakers. The remote is intuitive and has a little screen that helps to navigate the setting menu. The only indicator on the soundbar is an array of vertical LEDs which help show the volume level as well as the type of audio connection. CONNECTIVITY The soundbar has an HDMI ARC port, headphone jack, and optical TOSLINK connector on top of the ability to connect via bluetooth. HDMI ARC and TOSLINK support only Dolby Digital 5.1 (compressed surround sound) or 2.1 PCM (uncompressed stereo). This means that the best sound that you can get from the Vizio V51-H is compressed 5.1 surround sound (Dolby Digital). In order to get uncompressed surround, you need a soundbar with an eARC connection or an HDMI-in port. You can only send a stereo audio signal using the headphone jack and bluetooth. When sending a stereo signal to the soundbar, you have the option to turn on a virtualized surround sound mode which will utilize the satellite speakers, the subwoofer, and the center channel of the soundbar. In my experience, the virtualized surround is actually pretty good. I conducted a couple of tests playing Dolby Digital 5.1 and then playing 2.1 PCM virtualized surround sound, and there wasn’t a perceptible difference. I had no trouble getting Dolby Digital 5.1 from my TV using ARC when streaming from HBO Max or Netflix, but I did have trouble getting it from my 4k blu-ray drive. I couldn’t force my blu-ray drive to convert DTS-HD MA to Dolby Digital on the fly using HDMI ARC. I would recommend using the optical TOSLINK connector directly from the blu-ray drive to the soundbar if you want DD 5.1. SOUND QUALITY This soundbar is a definite improvement over any integrated TV speakers since it gets very loud without distortion and can fill a large room. Each channel can be separately adjusted to your liking. I personally boosted the center channel for clearer dialogue in movies. The sub is fairly small, but it’s adequate for my medium sized living room. This soundbar is not without its quirks. When watching a movie for example, the audio from the soundbar occasionally lags because it is resyncing with the wireless sub. It might happen once or twice in every movie, but this is to be expected from any wireless sound system. Overall, the sound quality is great even with its quirks. TLDR: This soundbar is a great budget 5.1 surround sound system if you are ok with listening to compressed 5.1 surround sound (Dolby Digital). If you want uncompressed 5.1 PCM, then I would suggest looking into the Vizio M51a-H6.

Probably one of the best sounds bars I have ever owned I had a Samsung 5.1 and had problems with it cutting out all the time this sound bar is great sounds amazing during movies and I built very well I’ll definitely buy more vizio products in the future

You can't go wrong with this. My second soundbar from vizio and its the best sound out there for the value against others like Samsung (the worst) and Sony.

I had my doubts coming from Bose but this has superb sound quality for the price. I tested it with variety of music, DTS-X, Dolby Atmos and HDR 4k content and I was astounded how well this thing did. I’m a bit of an audiophile and can confirm this soundbar system will not disappoint. Great all rounder. It’s not the most amazing sound I’ve heard but for the price, you’ll really be impressed and happy you were able to achieve a thousand dollar sound with a couple hundred bucks. I really like how seamless the installation was and how easy it was to sync it with my 4K tv. Extremely happy the mounts for the surround sound units were included. That’s a huge plus.

Worth every penny. You won’t regret it for a small to medium room. You have the option of using the small rear speakers as an adjunct to the main bar in the front, like shown, and programmed accordingly.

This Vizio Sound Bar is a replacement for my old 2.1 Vizio model SB3821-D-6 that failed after 3.5 years of constant use, and I was pleased with the sound and ease of use. Now this new V-51 Vizio Sound Bar Exceeds my previous Vizio, and after installing it with our 70” LG Flatscreen, it’s like sitting in my own personal theater. The Base module kicks out a massive amount of Bass and at one point I thought one of our pictures was about to fall off the wall. Unfortunately our present room configuration doesn’t allow for the surround speakers to be mounted behind me, so I angled them at a 45 degree angle away from the center speakers which I guess gives me sort of a “virtual” Surround effect. The remote that’s included is entirely different from the old 2.1 version, but after getting past a lengthy self inflicted “learning curve” I managed to get all of the settings just right for our huge tile floored living room. The only disclaimer is that the owners manual could have been a LOT more detailed on how to use the settings. The set up information was great, and I appreciated that it had the HDMI-ARC connection that was absent from the older model. Finally, I highly recommend this unit with the hopes that it serves me longer than the previous unit was able to.

A significant improvement over my last video soundsystem. A nice soundstage.

Sound quality that makes you think that you are in a movie theater!