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Sam's Club Members: VIZIO 5.1 M-Series Home Theater Sound Bar w/ Dolby Atmos Expired

$199
$299.00
+ Free S&H w/ Plus
+27 Deal Score
32,782 Views
Sam's Club has for their Members: VIZIO 5.1-Ch M-Series Home Theater Sound Bar w/ Dolby Atmos (M51a-H) on sale for $199. Shipping is free for Plus members, otherwise shipping is $5.

Thanks to community member sri1729 for finding this deal.
Good Deal?

Original Post

Written by
Edited November 1, 2023 at 02:23 PM by
Good budget system for the price.

The M-Series™ 5.1 Home Theater Sound Bar with Dolby Atmos® and DTS:X® from VIZIO, America's #1 Sound Bar Brand, features 9 high-performance speakers with separate tweeters and woofers to deliver thrilling Dolby Atmos and DTS:X virtual 3D surround sound. The dedicated center speaker assures clear dialogue, the surround speakers fill the room from front to back, and the 6" wireless subwoofer rocks the house with deep bass that really booms. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D surround technologies add cinematic sound to movies at home and bring video games to life with heart-pounding realism and a multi-dimensional effect that seems to come from all around you, even from above, in any room.

DTS® Virtual:X
Enhances any content with room-filling, floor-to-ceiling virtualized sound.

6" Wireless Subwoofer
Powerfully deep bass down to 45Hz.

Surround Speakers
Low-profile surround speakers are volume-adjustable and completely immersive.

4K Dolby Vision® HDR Pass Through
2 HDMI ports allow you to connect multiple devices to your TV through the sound bar at the highest video quality possible with 4K Dolby Vision® HDR.

https://www.samsclub.com/p/vizio-..._product_1
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Deal
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+27
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$199
$299.00

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Featured Comments

I would never buy a Vizio Sound bar again. Nonstop issues, audio cuts out. Need to restart both TV and sound bar. Turn on TV, sound bar not detected etc. I have a Sony TV, maybe it is just incompatible.
Good deal. I bought this soundbar couple of years back at costco.
Few issues you need to aware of sound cuts off intermittently for a second or so.
Need to restart the TV to make sure there isnt lag in audio and video
Compatibility issues with some TV's
So buyers be aware
For current owners who are having issues, here is a link to the newest firmware. Check your specific unit to see what its current firmware is and update as needed.

https://support.vizio.com/s/artic...uage=en_US

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Joined Jan 2020
L3: Novice
> bubble2 134 Posts
RelaxedRose979
11-02-2023 at 04:34 AM.
11-02-2023 at 04:34 AM.
Quote from kooltrini :
Similar experience with my vizio 5.1.4 and Samsung S95b. Drove me nuts for about a year. My workaround is that I turned off earc in the expert settings, and all is well. Still getting Atmos and no longer have audio cut outs, etc.
The issue with that is regular ARC lacks a lot of bandwidth, so yes you have Atmos. But it's really not letting your expensive system stretch its legs. It is only a little better than just the SPDIF out of the TV to the sound bar.
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Joined Apr 2013
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> bubble2 35 Posts
wss125
11-02-2023 at 04:39 AM.
11-02-2023 at 04:39 AM.
Try to turn off power saving mode on the soundbar while enabling cec
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Joined Nov 2016
L3: Novice
> bubble2 134 Posts
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Wordsmith9091
11-02-2023 at 04:46 AM.
11-02-2023 at 04:46 AM.
I have one in this series (the m51-j,.I think). It mostly works well, but sometimes there are hiccups in the hdmi-crc communication between it, my Nvidia Shield and my TV. For a while, I couldn't adjust the soundbar volume with my Shield remote, though I could with my TV's - that seems to have mostly settled out after multiple firmware updates to both.

Once in a while, my TV appears to fail to detect the soundbar on startup, and switch its selected input from eARC to the TV's internal speakers. This happens less after all those firmware updates, but it still happens. Hard to say if the TV or the soundbar are more to blame.

And sometimes, when Dolby Atmos is being used, there's a loud static noise right at the start of playback or after seeking in a video. Again, it happens less than it used to.
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Joined Feb 2009
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> bubble2 1,674 Posts
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dabuddha
11-02-2023 at 05:29 AM.
11-02-2023 at 05:29 AM.
Quote from dokita :
I would never buy a Vizio Sound bar again. Nonstop issues, audio cuts out. Need to restart both TV and sound bar. Turn on TV, sound bar not detected etc. I have a Sony TV, maybe it is just incompatible.
This. I've had 2 Vizio soundbars and have been plagued with problems. Currently, my soundbar won't turn on half the time unless I pull the plug and plug it back in. Had to get a smart plug so that I could just ask Google to power cycle it (yeah I'm lazy lol)
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Joined Nov 2007
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> bubble2 346 Posts
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ScottProdigy
11-02-2023 at 08:14 AM.
11-02-2023 at 08:14 AM.
Quote from tsuperwanker :
Have the same soundbar. From my experience, the issues come from HDMI CEC. If not for that, it's a pretty awesome soundbar for the price.
It's a handshake issue with DRM. Using CEC sometimes a device such as a gaming console or a streaming stick turns on before the sound bar completely boots up and therefore you get no audio once you turn off CEC it's no problem.
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Joined Nov 2018
L2: Beginner
> bubble2 36 Posts
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Dann610
11-02-2023 at 09:10 AM.
11-02-2023 at 09:10 AM.
I have mine connected to Sony television with HDMI ARC and haven't really had many issues in the couple years I've owned it. It is important to update to the latest firmware to patch up any common issues that were around during launch.

My biggest gripe with the updating of the soundbar is that it is a relatively manual process. The firmware needs to be downloaded to a USB drive and then plugged into the soundbar instead of an OTA connection (since there is a no network connectivity to the soundbar). Another problem I have is that some streaming services (like Max) has dialogue come through too quietly. But there is a specific EQ setting that allows you to boost dialogue specifically and I think that has helped.

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase.
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Joined Jan 2011
L1: Learner
> bubble2 6 Posts
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cloisterman
11-02-2023 at 09:29 AM.
11-02-2023 at 09:29 AM.
do the rear surround speakers sound loud enough? is it immersive?
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Joined Jun 2006
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> bubble2 3,253 Posts
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DAC21
11-02-2023 at 09:35 AM.
11-02-2023 at 09:35 AM.
Quote from Lilyly :
you ask us to ask you. now i ask. how did you know. and at what cost?
Many owners posting on the Official VIZIO Sub-Reddit about the power supply dying on this model. Maybe it was corrected later in the production run, mine was very early production. Troubleshooting suggestions were no go to get it powered back up. It died in month 13. My Credit card company took care of me with the extended warranty. Now I have the M512a-H6, no issues in the 18 months that I have had it.
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ZachAttack622
11-02-2023 at 12:00 PM.
11-02-2023 at 12:00 PM.
Quote from DAC21 :
Many owners posting on the Official VIZIO Sub-Reddit about the power supply dying on this model. Maybe it was corrected later in the production run, mine was very early production. Troubleshooting suggestions were no go to get it powered back up. It died in month 13. My Credit card company took care of me with the extended warranty. Now I have the M512a-H6, no issues in the 18 months that I have had it.

What's the difference in the two? Can't seem to find any info online but the h6 comes highly reviewed.
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Joined Jun 2006
L8: Grand Teacher
> bubble2 3,253 Posts
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DAC21
11-02-2023 at 01:27 PM.
11-02-2023 at 01:27 PM.
Quote from ZachAttack622 :
What's the difference in the two? Can't seem to find any info online but the h6 comes highly reviewed.
The M512a-H6 adds two up firing ATMOS speakers on the soundbar and is about 4 inches longer if I recall.
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Joined Nov 2019
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> bubble2 12,805 Posts
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Lilyly
11-02-2023 at 02:24 PM.
11-02-2023 at 02:24 PM.
Quote from DAC21 :
Many owners posting on the Official VIZIO Sub-Reddit about the power supply dying on this model. Maybe it was corrected later in the production run, mine was very early production. Troubleshooting suggestions were no go to get it powered back up. It died in month 13. My Credit card company took care of me with the extended warranty. Now I have the M512a-H6, no issues in the 18 months that I have had it.
how much is your H6?
how does credit card ext warranty work? do you have to ship the speakers to them?
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Joined Nov 2013
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> bubble2 57 Posts
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horrorluvr
11-02-2023 at 03:04 PM.
11-02-2023 at 03:04 PM.
I purchased this soundbar for my living room, I have a Sony HT-A9 for my theater, and I was really really surprised by this. The sound is phenomenal for the price and the virtual DTS-X and atmos is really impressive. For $199 it's a no brainer. I've never had the sound cut out or lag.
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> bubble2 1,911 Posts
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Dealsprime440
11-02-2023 at 04:51 PM.
11-02-2023 at 04:51 PM.
Quote from dokita :
I would never buy a Vizio Sound bar again. Nonstop issues, audio cuts out. Need to restart both TV and sound bar. Turn on TV, sound bar not detected etc. I have a Sony TV, maybe it is just incompatible.

Agree! I donated the last 2 vizio products I bought because nobody on fb marketplace would take them for free!
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> bubble2 3,253 Posts
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DAC21
11-02-2023 at 05:12 PM.
11-02-2023 at 05:12 PM.
Quote from Lilyly :
how much is your H6?
how does credit card ext warranty work? do you have to ship the speakers to them?
It was Amazon Prime Sale last year $380, going for $440 or so now. All credit cards are different you would have to check with yours whether they offer extended warranty when you purchase with their credit card.

My credit card is through Chase and they still do extended warranty. I've heard that other credit card issuers have stopped doing that over the last couple years.
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Last edited by DAC21 November 2, 2023 at 05:15 PM.

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Joined Mar 2014
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> bubble2 39 Posts
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lawthegreat
11-03-2023 at 05:33 AM.
11-03-2023 at 05:33 AM.
I have a Vizio 5.1 and it's ok. I will never repurchase Vizio because of how many times I have to restart it. The sound quality is acceptable.
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