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Different Media Types
Since the 16X DVD-ROM Gigabyte
M1600A will accept many different types of media, we've taken a few shots of the
drive, and subsequent control screens, to give you a better feel for just what
this little drive can handle - along with some of its quirks.
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The Gigabyte M1600A has a dot-matrix VFD
suspended in front of a pair of electroluminescent back lights, which
produces probably one of the most unique displays to hit the computer
world in some time. While the VFD display is dot-matrix, the M1600A didn't
display the titles of the MP3 tracks as it played them, just track number
and time. When a MP3-CD is inserted into the drive, the unit goes through
and does a total track count before proceeding to play any of the MP3s. In
our tests, it seems as though VBR (variable bit rate) encoded MP3s are not
accepted all that well. Officially, the drive supports 32-128Kbit encoded
MP3 files.
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The M1600A reads the
disc before giving control over to the user to play a CD. |
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The radio is one of the best features of the
Gigabyte M1600A, and even has options allowing you to key in several
pre-sets so you can quickly index predefined radio stations. The digital
FM tuner uses a small wire antenna at the rear and ranges in signal from
87.5-108MHz
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Show is a preset channel that makes
moving through the radio dial pretty simple. The tuner can be changed with
the remote control if desired. It would have been a more convenient to be
able to swing through the radio dial with one of the knobs on the
control panel, but this isn't the case.
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With the auxiliary
input, the M1600A can accept an audio channel in through the control
card. |
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Since the Gigabyte
M1600A can operate independently of the PC, it turns off by holding the
left dial in for a few seconds. When powered down, a clock is
displayed. |
Now that we've gone over the long list of features
the Gigabyte M1600A has to boast, and given you an idea of what you can expect
from the unit acoustically, it's time to benchmark this 16X DVD. With all the
controls up front it is easy to forget that with the push of a button the
control panel folds down to reveal a DVD drive too!
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