The Tech-pert: Amp Up Your HDTV Audio with this Vizio Sound Bar Deal

The speakers built into most HDTVs are pretty crummy, but many people live with them because they don't want to buy an expensive AV receiver and clutter up their living rooms with a bunch of surround-sound speakers and wires.

That's the beauty of products like the Vizio VBS200: it's everything you need in a single speaker, one that mounts on a wall or sits unobtrusively in front of your TV.

Vizio calls this the Sound Bar, and that's precisely what it is: a low-lying, stretched-out speaker. Six speakers, actually, enough to fill a small-to-medium-size room with big audio dynamite.

The Vizio Sound Bar normally sells for $149, but right now Walmart has it on sale for $98, plus sales tax in most states.

What's more, the press of a button activates the VBS200's SRS TruSurroundHD option, which generates a surround-sound effect not unlike what you'd get from actual surround speakers. In my experience, some people like this and some people don't. I think it's great for movies, so-so for TV shows. Fortunately, you can toggle it on and off as desired.

The Sound Bar has three audio inputs: one digital and two stereo RCA (i.e;. analog). The latter can accommodate just about anything: game console, DVD player, iPod (with the proper cable, of course), and so on.

As for the S/PDIF TOSLINK input, it can receive audio from a cable box, TiVo, AV receiver, or your TV. Just make sure you don't overpay for the cable: they often sell for upwards of $20-30 in electronics stores, but you can get a six-footer from Meritline for $4.99 shipped.

I won't say the Sound Bar delivers the same audio power or fidelity as a traditional receiver and speakers, but as an alternative to the speakers built into your TV?  You won't believe the difference. This is $98 very well spent.

Self-proclaimed cheapskate Rick Broida has been a technology writer for over 20 years. He has authored over a dozen books, including, most recently, "How to Do Everything: Palm Pre." Currently he writes the Cheapskate blog for CNET, the Hassle-Free PC blog for PC World, and technology stories for Popular Science, Wired, and other magazines.