Product Description
VIZIO S4251w-B4 5.1 Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer and Satellite Speakers
Award-Winning Home Theater
Step
up to immersive surround sound with VIZIOs new 5.1 home theater sound
bar. Winner of CNET’s Best of CES 2013, the VIZIO S4251w-B4 combines
amazing performance with innovative features to deliver an audio
experience as crystal-clear as your HDTV picture in a design that’s
remarkably easy to use.
Next Level Audio Experience.
The
VIZIO 5.1 home theater comes with a three channel sound bar, wireless
subwoofer for thunderous bass, and rear satellite speakers that put you
in the center of the action. TV, movies, sports and games will come to
life in up to 102 dB of roof-raising volume with less than 1% of total
harmonic distortion*. *S4251w-B4 is rated at 102 dB. Sound Pressure
Level measured using pink noise at 1 meter, C-weighted. Total Harmonic
Distortion calculated as electrical measurement of amplifier distortion.
Crafted For Convenience.
Adding
theater quality 5.1 surround sound to your room has never been easier.
With a range of digital and analog inputs, all cables included to
connect to most any HDTV, and easy to install wall mount brackets - you
can saturate your room in sound with maximum convenience and minimal
clutter.
Seamless Streaming.
Forget
docking. Built-in Bluetooth technology makes it easy to wirelessly
stream your favorite music or Internet playlist from your smartphone,
tablet or PC. Spend more time playing your playlist and less time
playing around with wires.
Advanced Technology.
- Dolby Digital
- DTS Circle Surround
- DTS Digital Surround
- DTS TruVolume
- Wireless Subwoofer
- Bluetooth Connectivity
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Wireless Subwoofer.
This
subwoofer can be placed anywhere in the room — wireless means you get
great sound and your home stays free of clutter. Rich, powerful bass
transforms movies, music, and TV into an explosive experience. Wireless
Subwoofer range approximately 60 feet – line of sight from sound bar.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #30 in Home Theater
- Size: 42-Inch
- Color: Black
- Brand: VIZIO
- Model: S4251w-B4
- Number of items: 4
- Dimensions: 3.74" h x 42.32" w x 3.15" l, 33.00 pounds
- Networking: Wireless
Features
- Sound Pressure Level measured using pink noise at 1 meter, C-weighted. Total harmonic distortion calculated as electrical measurement of amplifier distortion.
- Complete 5.1 surround sound home theater solution: 42-Inch; sound bar with left, right and center channels, wireless subwoofer and rear satellite speakers; Best in class audio performance: 102dB of room filling, crystal clear surround sound with less than 1% total harmonic distortion.Wirelessly stream your music from a Smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth
- Premium audio with Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Surround decoding, plus DTS Tru Volume and DTS Circle Surround audio post processing
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews819 of 871 people found the following review helpful.
Great Soundbar; Early Versions May Be Defective (now there's a fix)
By Sonny Craven
I can't add or refute praise buyers have posted for this soundbar system's audio fidelity and quality. After all, it was picked by CNET to receive the 'Best Product of CES' award at this year's Las Vegas "Consumer Electronic Show". I've waited since January to buy it, and finally, it became available locally at one of the discount box stores near me.
But, I can tell you, the unit I purchased was not ready for prime time, as several others have pointed out in their reviews. Recent reviews give me more hope. One reviewer said, "..the first unit I had would go silent when changing channels while using cable. Probably due to audio format changes between hd and regular channels but not sure. I would then have to turn the sound bar off then back on to get sound.", he said.
Folks, that was an understatement. After a pretty easy set up and using only the optical cable link from my optical output of my large flat screen Samsung to the soundbar, I immediately heard a dramatic difference in sound quality when compared with my older Vizio 2.1 system that had performed well despite it's inherent limits.
Then, using my whole system Logitech remote, I switched from a live cable program source in HDMI 1 to my Blu-Ray device. So far, so good. That is until I skipped DVD chapters or fast-forwarded the DVD. The audio dropped out and would not return unless I rotated through the various inputs to re-initialize the audio in the "optical" input on the Vizio remote. No amount of tries or even DVD changes would prevent this. Next, I tried switching to the HDMI input for the Roku streaming device, but any fast-fowarding of video of a movie in progress suffered the same audio loss, no matter if I used Amazon Prime content or Netflix.
I called Vizio customer service and the representative had me go through setup and connectivity to be sure the problem wasn't caused by me. He claimed he was unaware of any such issue, put me on hold to check his tech bulletins or reports, then came back on the line to tell me he couldn't find any reported instances of this problem. Then, in a step I hate, he proceeded to find fault with my brand of TV (as opposed to a Vizio large screen TV, which he said contains a circuit that allows consumers to change the audio phase delay and compression format. Right answer, they prefer PCM..or pulse code modulation).
Now, I'm a life-long broadcaster and electronics buff, schooled in PCM audio and much more. So, I knew he was putting me on the E-ride at Disney World. His answer, I felt, was designed to blow off a serious Vizio model defect. It was similar to experiences I'm sure we all have had with PC manufacturer tech support "experts" who when they reach the limits of their knowledge or troubleshooting, claim the problem lies with your PC software or operating system. I reminded him Samsung is the world leader in flat screen product sales, in ratios of up to 9-1 over competitors (probably wider for Vizio sales).
He had no answer for that, and he asked to again place me on hold to "check with his manager". And, "Eureka", he came back with the revelation that a firmware fix was needed and due out, but he didn't know when. He then admitted there was a defect and quoted the exact issue from "what his manager told him". He wouldn't budge on my suggestion to replace the unit as another reviewer said was done in his case. When I told him that's an offer one Amazon reviewer received as good customer service, he said they did replace some in early cases before a firmware upgrade was developed.
I said that when a customer purchases his company's products they expect it to work and if it doesn't, to not have to tie up good money for a poor experience until a solution or fix is found, which presently has no target date.
Now, his attitude went from authoritative to meek, and he was flummoxed when I asked how would I ever know when the firmware upgrade was available. Of course I knew Vizio wouldn't send me a message by taking my name. You have to check..daily, weekly or maybe until eternity.
Of course, I returned the unit back to the point of purchase and cautioned the store clerks they might see more returns.
I suspect this huge discount store chain bought this batch under an early contract for some of the first units to roll out of the factory. I am a faithful and constant Amazon customer. Amazon stock may be of a later vintage, but at the time, the discounter I purchased from had a significantly better price, including local sales tax.
Vizio, if you are monitoring customer feedback, may I suggest you add some employee training on candor, and admit upfront there are problems with firmware early versions of this model. It's the only way to become truly mainstream as this product far and way produces great sound and solves a common problem with inexpensive soundbars with wireless bass only that can't produce room-filling 5.1 sound and eliminate wires to satellite speakers from the soundbar or amp.
To potential buyers: Be sure to check out your purchase thoroughly and return it asap if you have these symptoms, or if you experience similar problems, check to see if the firmware upgrade has become available. I'm impressed enough that I'll wait to buy this model from Amazon after a decent interval in the hope I'll get a later version that has had a firmware change or upgrade. Normally, if you report any malfunction to Amazon within the specified time, you'll be treated right, but, note the Amazon disclaimer on this product, "This item is non returnable". What prompts Amazon to make this caveat? What does it know we don't, or have they had to eat the return costs too many times for defective units?
And congratulations to those who made the choice and got a defect-free unit. I'll upgrade my rating level after I purchase a newer model version.
UPDATE: 9/7/2013: Vizio has finally acknowledged and reacted to complaints by adding a firmware update to address this problem. Here is an excerpt from the Vizio website: "Firmware update version 1017 for the VIZIO S4251w-B4 Sound Bar. Download and follow the instructions below to update your S4251w-B4. This update addresses audio dropout on some units when changing channels using your Cable or Satellite Set Top Box. If you do not experience this issue, it is not necessary to update your sound bar."
Nonetheless, I'll upgrade my rating by one-star but not amend my overall description of the problem in the interest of alerting buyers who purchase remaining stock with this problem. I am encouraged now to the point I will repurchase the unit. It is great sound for the money.
Update: 10/6/2013
I'm updating my rating one level to 4-stars now that I have repurchased this model. So far, it is glitch free but I have the Vizio website download file for the firmware fix on a USB thumbdrive in case it's needed. Can't rate it perfect because the buyer shouldn't experience this with a new product and then have to arm-wrestle the U.S. customer service rep until he finally admits they knew of the glitch all along and there will be a fix at an as-yet undetermined date -- despite the fact, you now have their unusable product and a debit on your credit card. Until confronted, he was perfectly satisfied to let me end the conversation with his apology that I had a bad experience and to send it for repairs under warranty. Show more respect for your customers, Vizio.
Update: 2/11/2014 - Be sure to visit the Vizio website and download and install the latest firmware upgrade. Should fix problems with earlier versions of this model if switching between peripheral inputs such as DVD, SmartTV sources (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc) and DVD players and main TV or HDMI source for your cable set-top box and DVR AND the soundbar can't find audio. From Vizio support site: "Firmware update version 1017 for the VIZIO S4251w-B4 Sound Bar. Download and follow the instructions below to update your S4251w-B4. This update addresses audio dropout on some units when changing channels using your Cable or Satellite Set Top Box. If you do not experience this issue, it is not necessary to update your sound bar."
222 of 238 people found the following review helpful.
Amazing 5.1 surround sound for the price.
By Renz004
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.
724 of 795 people found the following review helpful.
5.1 made easy!
By Harun Ar-rashid
If you'd asked me a couple years ago which 5.1 sound system to buy, my answer would have been simple: "none."
They were a big expensive pain. It seemed like my friends who had these systems would either have them only half set up (say, ditching the surround speakers) or fully set up but not used (because the input selection or the remote was too much of a pain). My previous roommate had a 5.1 "surround" system - with all five speakers under the TV. We rarely used it because we had to change 3 settings in 3 different places to make it work.
Let's review the misery of yesterday's 5.1 systems, shall we?
1) You needed to place and wire six speakers: left, center, right, left surround, right surround, plus a bass module. That's a lot of wires, speaker stands, and connections.
2) To connect the left and right surround speakers, you needed to run wires across your seating area. That's pretty ugly unless you go through the effort to make conduits or buy a special rug.
3) You needed to purchase a separate receiver to power those speakers - and connect it too.
4) You paid for all that - an absolute minimum of $400, with nicer gear easily double that.
5) You needed to manage additional remotes and settings. Good luck if you ever asked a friend to change the volume.
Well, it's almost as though Vizio started with this list, and then eliminated these problems one by one when making this 5.1 soundbar. The soundbar itself combines Left, Center and Right channels into one thin module that will fit in front of your TV, assuming you use a TV stand with at least two inches of space there. There are no speaker stands or speaker wires, and no separate receiver - the amplifier is built in! The only wires are the ones you absolutely need: sound input (an optical cable in most cases) and power.
But what about the bass module and surround speakers? This is where the Vizio really shines. Low frequency sounds like those from the bass module cannot be well localized by the human auditory system. Simply put, you can place the bass module anywhere in the room, and it will sound nearly the same to a human. So why not place it behind your seating area where it can also connect to the surround speakers? Tada! You plug the bass module into a power outlet behind your seating area and the surround speakers into the bass module. No wires run across your living room. The audio signal is sent wirelessly, with pairing automatically set up when you plug in the bass module. Just try to keep the bass module within 60 feet.
But what about the remotes and connections? Again this product is one step ahead. Through an easy setup process, you can program the soundbar to respond to the volume commands from your TV remote. No need to dig up the sound bar remote. Now, even your drunk football buddy can change the volume. But what about turning the sound bar on and off? You must need the sound bar remote for that right? Nope. It also has a power saving feature, so it turns itself off automatically. To turn it back on, just turn up the volume on your TV remote. Genius: these three tweaks mean you don't even need the sound bar's own remote after day one. Something lots of other reviewers have noted (which I somehow took for granted) was that the remote includes a small LCD display to help you navigate options without commandeering your TV's UI or cluttering the appearance of the soundbar itself. Nicely done; other UI designers would do well to copy this.
A point for the fellow TV audio nerds out there: according to various internet sources, "most" televisions downmix the 5.1 audio signals they receive to stereo at their outputs, meaning that if you connect the optical audio output from the TV to a sound system, your sound system only gets two channels, even if the TV received 5.1 input. To work around the curse of those TVs, you need to plug the cable box / TiVo, Wii AND Blu-Ray player directly into your sound system, possibly using a switcher, which is a pain! However, there's good news here for Vizio TV owners like me: Vizio is one of the brands of TVs that outputs true 5.1 audio from its optical output. (Or at least it does on my VF550M which is a few years old.) I even borrowed a bitstream analyzer from a coworker and verified it. But you don't have to go that far to check on yours: the soundbar lights up with a "Dolby Digital" light for about two seconds when it detects a Dolby Digital bitstream, which is generally 5.1. Pretty cool.
Even if you don't give 5.1 input to this system, it can create 5.1 for you through a built-in upmixer provided by audio tech company DTS. Just give it stereo and the upmixer takes care of the rest. It's not as good as real 5.1 but it makes pretty good use of all the speakers. I enjoyed this feature when playing my iPod music on the system using its Bluetooth option. Which reminds me: this system has a Bluetooth option. It makes a damn loud party sound system, which Vizio claims outputs 102 dB SPL. I verified that it will indeed put out sound at or above what psychoacousticians call the "threshold of pain."
A few nits. First, the soundbar isn't quite as wide as I'd like: the left, center and right channels in it are all too close to each other. I use my sound bar with a 55 inch HDTV that I sit about 8 feet from. Unless I sit closer, audio from the sound bar generally fails to sound well "spread out." I kind of wish the sound bar would telescope so I could spread the left and right speakers wider! Second, when using Bluetooth the sound quality can be poor - kind of like a pirated MP3 rather than the high quality iTunes audio I'm streaming. I work around this by using the Spotify app on my TiVo to stream music directly from the internet to the soundbar. A final issue, which might be a soundbar bug or a weakness of digital audio in general, occurs when initiating or restarting digital audio, such as on Netflix or TiVo-played cable TV. The sound will either begin after a quick loud "snap" noise, or take a couple seconds to fade in after video has begun playing. Obviously, it should be instant and flawless.
The overall package though is a total winner. As you may know it's won consumer awards including a Best of CES award from CNET. It's priced aggressively at $330 and the convenience is liberating. I recommend buying it and freeing yourself from the headaches of yesterday's 5.1.
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