VIZIO VSB200 Universal HD Sound Bar
Review by RJS "Robert" : Pretty good sound bar.

This is a pretty good quality sound bar for the price.. I got a refurbished unit for $87.99 plus $10 shipping vs $149.99 new... Works great right out of the box... I have a Samsung 8000 series LED TV and even with the great picture the TV's speakers are on the back of the TV and the Samsung wall-mount for this TV (and it's thing design) the TV is flush against the wall meaning the speakers are pointed right at the wall. out of 100 I typically had to have the TV sound pushed up to 50 - 60 and on some blu-ray or DVD movies the sound had to push 80 - 90 and some times 100 to be able to make out the dialog. At first I purchased a Samsung surround sound system for close to $800 with the wireless rear speakers since I have a fairly large living room and didn't want to run wires all over the place or the added expense of running the wires through the walls of the house. The wireless rear speakers worked in and out and I later found out wireless speakers can be messed up with a Wi-Fi network in your home... Which in today's world even when I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment I had a Wi-Fi network... Now I have a large house with Wi-Fi and 3 computers connected via the Wi-Fi... Not sure if that wast he problem with the wireless subwoofer and rear speakers but even though the sound was probably better using just the front 3 speakers (Right/Left/Center) vs the Vizio sound bar cost wise $100 vs $800 the Vizio sound bar is hands down the much better deal. I don't even use the Samsung TV speakers any more. I have the volume turned to ZERO and have just the sound bar running and even on those select Blu-Ray/DVD's were I had to turn the volume up to almost the max on the TV sound great at about 1/2 volume on the sound bar (The wife will tell me to turn it down now from upstairs and around the corner) I use the virtual surround sound and to my ears it's not a whole lot different on or off. it's slightly louder in virtual HD surround but I do NOT get the feeling that I have surround sound. a 2.1 system is just that a 2.1 system which is perfectly fine for my use.

As for the negative. The input plugs on the rear could have been better positioned. I am using an optical audio cable from the TV to the sound bar.. My TV is wall mounted and the bar has the option but right now it's on top of my entertainment cabinet 2 feet below the TV and since my cabinet is black and the bar is black it bends in great. Because of the placement of the plugs on the rear it's going to be a tight fit wall mounted. They really went all out on the remote (There should be a sarcasm font) it's a piece but luckily my universal remote can be programmed to operate the sound bar. The only other negative is the "POP" sound you get when switching between devices... If you switch from the Cable Box to the Blu-Ray or Wii or back you get a nice annoying POP sound as your switching but that sound does not occur while watching TV only when switching between devices and even at 1/2 volume it's a pretty loud POP for my taste...

But again for the money.............. Darn good sound bar.... If only Samsung had better speakers on their TV's to go with the awesome picture... On a side note I have an older Samsung LCD TV with the speakers front mounted on the side of the panel and the speakers on it are just fine. These new LED's are just so thin they had to rear mount the speakers which is weird since your sitting in FRONT of the TV and the speakers are facing the wall...

VIZIO VSB200 Universal HD Sound Bar
Review by Debbie Lee Wesselmann : Improve how your television sounds

This sound bar was designed to connect directly to your television, with or without a subwoofer, to replace the built-in sound output, but it is not meant to be a center channel to a home theater system, although read on if you want to use it this way. It comes with RCA connectors (not the optional optical cable -- buy that separately) and a small remote control. Hooking up to a TV is easy, provided that you have a newer set with the appropriate connections. Compared to the speakers on my Sony TV, the Vizio offered some sound improvement, although not as much as I had expected. The biggest difference was the simulated surround sound, which gave the (slight) impression of depth without a full speaker system. Although I tested this sound bar as it was meant to be used, I bought it to add to an existing system, complete with surround sound speakers and subwoofer, as a replacement for an inadequate center channel speaker. If you are interested it this way, read the next paragraph; otherwise, skip to the third paragraph.

Out of the box, the Vizio sound bar could not connect with my Onkyo receiver because of the RCA connectors; it is meant to connect to a television only. To use as a center channel speaker (note: this is NOT the intended purpose), you can attach an RCA cable to the sound bar and then use wire-stripped ends to connect to the center channel terminals on the receiver. The sound then coming out is center channel only -- and it works a lot better than the smaller speaker I previously used. Voices are clear and easy to hear without sounding overly amplified.

The sound bar is powered through an outlet, so make sure you have enough outlets available to add this. Unfortunately, it turns itself off every time you turn off the whole system, whether that system is television- or receiver-based. To use it, you need to turn it on, either by the small remote control (I had no issues with the remote working, unlike some others) or manually on the top of bar. The sound is clear, with no obvious (to me) distortion.

Purchasing this sound bar or the sound bar/subwoofer set (they have the same bars) is a good option if you want to improve the sound quality coming from your TV speakers; however, true surround sound, with satellite speakers and amplified through a good receiver, is much superior to using this sound bar alone with input from the television. I consider this a relatively low-budget alternative to a higher end speaker system. For value alone, it gets five stars. But don't expect it to contend with more powerful and more expensive options.

VIZIO VSB200 Universal HD Sound Bar
Review by R. D. Chandler : Problems with optical input from some TVs.

A word of caution: I purchased this Vizio sound bar from Amazon a week ago to be coupled with a LG flat screen, model42LD520, which has only an optical sound output. This LG TV outputs an optical signal that is not compatible with the sound bar S/PDIF input. This Vizio sound bar requires a PCM optical signal which is not available on this TV. Thus one can not run an optical sound signal via the TV from external components to the bar. The optical link works fine from a HD Direct-TV receiver. I call the LG Customer Service and was told that there was no way to change the TV output to PCM. The agent had heard of this problem before and it seems to be related to this Vizio sound bar not necessarily others brands. I find this sound bar to be a good value except for what is mentioned and it does have two R/L analog inputs.