We’re big fans of Vizio’s original 5.1 soundbar, which delivers true surround sound from an extremely compact and tasteful form – including a wireless sub that powers the rear channel speakers. As announced at CES, Vizio has doubled down on this form factor with a larger model that overcomes the original’s connectivity limitations by adding two HDMI inputs. And their $500 home theater solution is now available for purchase. CNET is quite positive with their praise of the 2014 model… other than price point, as it clocks in at nearly twice the cost of the original, and soundbar size. While the elongated 54″ bar enhances front channel separation, your TV stand may not be able to attractively contain it. Further, the soundbar is nearly half an inch taller than the original at 4.18″ — which could be a deal breaker for me as the 2013 variant already does a pretty good job of blocking my Panasonic HDTV’s IR sensor. Hm.
My original plan had been to move the 2013 model into the bedroom and upgrade the family room to the 2014 model. But the gotchas may be too much for me to overcome. Perhaps I’ll get an optical switch for the family room and a second 2013 model for upstairs. Or just leave well enough alone and enjoy iPad TV from my new deck.
It’s about time they added HDMI inputs. My First Sony speaker bar from 2008/2009 had three HDMI inputs. Does the Vizio at least handle 7.1 pcm input? My old Sony one did which was important frome back then for 7.1 pcm BD playback.. Although I’m guessing that the Vizio won’t handle decoding the HD audio codecs? My newer Sony speaker bar does decode them. Instead of just legacy DD/DTS that my old one decoded.
The more HDMI inputs the better. One cable for audio and video is so much better than dealing with multiple cables for each device.
Compre una televicion vizio en 800 dollars en Christmas y hace 3 meses empece a usarla y ahora ya no quiere encender que hago no tiene garantia