How to Update Vizio Soundbar Firmware

With their range of stylish soundbars, Vizio provides a significant improvement to your entertainment sound system. Keeping it convenient, you can mount it on the wall right beneath your TV, or place it on the cabinet just under the screen. Thanks to the soundbar’s low profile, it won’t interfere with your viewing experience.

Adding a soundbar to your setup, you won’t have to rely on the small integrated speakers on your TV. Depending on the model, Vizio products decode modern surround standards, provide a Bluetooth connection, and even allow you to control them using Google Assistant.

Updating the Firmware

Updating the firmware on your Vizio soundbar isn’t complicated at all. All you need is an empty USB drive and the model number of your soundbar.

For USB, any size will do, because these updates rarely go over a couple of megabytes. And to check which soundbar model you have, look for the model number on the label located at the back of your soundbar.

Armed with the empty USB and the soundbar’s model number, you can proceed with the update.

1.    Getting the Update File

The first step of the process is to get the latest firmware update for your soundbar.

1. Plug the empty USB drive to your computer.
2. Using a browser on your computer, go to Vizio’s homepage.
3. Click “Support” from the top menu.
4. In the search box, type in the model number of your soundbar to check for updates.
5. If there’s an update available, you’ll see it in the search results.
6. Click on “Download” next to the most recent update (if there’s more than one available).
7. When the file downloads, go to the download location and copy it to the empty USB.

Now that you have the update file on your USB, you can proceed to the next step.

2.    Applying the Update

To successfully update the soundbar, it’s essential to follow the exact sequence of the next few steps, since there’s no status report screen to check how far you went with the process.

1. Turn on your Vizio soundbar by pressing the Power button.
2. While it’s powered, unplug the power cord from the soundbar.
3. Plug the USB drive containing the update to the dedicated port on the back of your device.
4. Plug the soundbar’s power cord back in.
5. That will cause the soundbar to light up the first two indicator LEDs, signaling that it entered update mode. The LEDs are usually located in the lower-left corner of the soundbar’s front panel.
6. Next, you should see first, third, and fourth LED light up. That’s an indication that the update is currently in progress.
7. When the LEDs turn off, you’ll know that the firmware update is complete.
8. Now you can remove the USB from the soundbar.

With the power cord plugged in and the USB removed, you can finally turn on your freshly updated soundbar.

As an important note, please make sure never to remove the USB drive while the LEDs are on. That goes for the power cord as well. If you do, you risk getting your soundbar bricked, meaning it might not work anymore.

Updates Keep Your Soundbar Fresh

As with most of the modern gadgets you use, your soundbar must keep up with the new trends and feature updates. Keeping its firmware fresh, you will further improve your home entertainment experience, be it watching the latest films or listening to your favorite band.

Have you managed to update your soundbar? Do you have any new features available after the update? Please share your experiences in the comments section below.