Gees, I've had this scope for over a month and only today did I discover that, with the latest firmware update, they added FILTERS! Low pass, high pass, band pass and notch filter. It's under Math -> Operator and all the way down in the menu (doesn't show until you go all the way down). It is only software filtering though. And at 35:40 Sin(x)/x can be switched off if you have 3 or more channels turned on. You can see at 36:12 that the switch is no longer grayed out because Dave switched on all 4 channels.
Doubt if Rigol is making much money off these, but it's still brilliant. They've created a product that almost every electronics student and hobbyist knows about and wants. Sell them their first one they'll come back for more. Long term planning by Rigol.
Rigol should thank you for convincing me to pick up one for myself. What a great little package this one. And lol at your frustration with the software, I think we all wanted to lie down after that nightmare
Great video Dave. Had my 1054 for almost a year now. This video has shown me stuff I didn’t know it could do. I usually just run simple tests on audio gear. Nice to know about all these features as I learn. Thanks for the great videos and sharing your knowledge. Just an old guy trying to learn a few new tricks. Was in the machining/mechanical engineering trade for 30 years, now I am learning more about my lifelong hobby in electronics.
This was one of the best reviews of the Rigol I could find & for any scope on Utube, for that matter. Sincerely, Thank you! I can't wait until you film a teardown of a crusty headlamp. Now that will be even more valuable. Just as sincerely, but in a different vein.
this should arrive at my place in about 8hrs, first scope, im really pumped! I was going to go with daves advice to grab an analog scope on ebay but for the price (+ ability to soft mod) it was hard to invest 100+ in a scope i have to do math on vs this. Thanks for all your excellent factual and sometimes entertaining (multi-meter destruction) videos Dave!
Looking at this review, I came to the conclusion that this device is underpowered, processor wise, and rather sluggish as far as display is concerned. But, I've bought one nonetheless because of the outstanding bang-for-buck ratio. It will replace my UniT UT-81B scopemeter very nicely. Thanks for the honest review Dave.
The software frequency counter issue Dave talks about at 55:15 seems to have been resolved. At least, I'm having no such trouble with it on my scope which I bought a week ago.
This scope is absolutely worth it, the thing has such massive community support which is vital when you're a total newbie, if you buy those weird chinese scopes with seemingly randomly generated brand names you're lucky if you're even going to find a single search result that isn't the sales listing itself so you would struggle with finding answers to anything since every scope is different.
Appreciate the guidance and in depth review - still trying to pick between the plethora of choices out there for digital oscilloscopes and this has been a really great channel!
Well, they apparently made quite a nice piece of equipment as I bough it recently after 6 years from this video. Although I found a 2 channel version of this exact model, which I am not sure why it exists, LEDs for the 3rd and 4th channel buttons still visible while booting. I am surprised by the functionality of the device. Couple minor frustrations I had were; no dedicated "back" button, kind of soft encoders, overly sensitive multipurpose button while wandering in the menu, not being able to hide the menus, and the fact that for whatever reason they have both up-down arrows on left side together at the bottom, and one on top and one on bottom for the right side. Although I haven't used it much so far, I am perfectly happy with the device.
Actually, DS1104Z Plus (MSO ready) is much better at the digital measurements / decoding options, but costs almost $1k. Got one and I'm really happy with it. They improved the firmware a bit, certain glitches aren't there anymore, a great scope IMHO. There's a minor side effect, it takes 1 analog channel per 8 digital inputs (CH3 and CH4 go down for a full 16ch LA), therefore you may only measure 2 analog channels and 2x8 digital channels at the same time.
Just received this nifty scope. I use it for low frequency audio applications only (up to 20kHz), so 50Mhz is already an overkill. 4 Channels is nice to compare audio signals at different stages of the circuit. FFT is good for tuning EQ's. Couldn't care less about PC connectivity. What's not to love?
Another Dave's fan. I laugh a lot with your videos. You make electronics funny XD. I'm a hobbyist and today, after reading millions of pages and looking tons of videos, i bought mi first scope: a RIGOL DS1054Z. Thanks Dave !!! The only complaint: the fan is very noisy. I love to work in silence but this is like to be in a hot summer with a fan near the head (but withouth the sweet breeze in the face)
I'm sold! I want one of these.... Only one problem... I have no idea what the hell I'd do with it, other than use it as a very expensive voltage meter. But that was the best review I've seen in years... Had me laughing not to mention I stayed awake for the whole thing. I'm just a beginner with Arduino and I'm just trying to learn how it all comes together. But seriously that was awesome!
A scope like this goes well beyond measuring DC voltage, Arduino has several PWM (pulse width modulation) channels, which only multimeters costing MUCH more may give a general idea of what’s going on. Also it helps with comparing several signals at once, for example as a beginner imagine a 555 timer. You can compare the output to the timing capacitor just to see the 1/3 to 2/3 comparison to the pin 3 output... that’s just a simple idea. A multimeter could never replace a oscilloscope. You can see the real time functions with a scope, you will eventually grow with the scope and get a much better understanding of electronics in general.
I like Dave's channel a lot, but it almost feels like this video is an advertisement for the scope. Even so, I'm sold. I bought one, unlocked it's features, and set it up. It's not perfect, but it's really slick.
Minor thing, at 15:30(ish) you compare the noise to a Rigol 2000/3000 series, while you have an Agilent 3054a on screen... was this a bonus for people who actually watch?
Regarding the trial licenses for features and the small text: The hours for the trial licenses for the extra features (such as RS-232 decoding and the like) are not based on use of the feature but on total scope on-time. So after 35 hours or so the RS-232 decoding license will be expired, even if you had never tried it. While the text on the screen is indeed small, it's not been an issue at all for me even with somewhat poor eyesight. I have moderate presbyopia and even with 2.0 diopter reading glasses and a magnifying glass I often find it difficult to read things like PC board lettering and printing on chips, but the DS1054Z screen has been no problem. This is possibly because it's quite bright, which helps with presbyopia.
Thanks for the review. I ordered mine yesterday. It is a huge upgrade to my venerable old Tektronix 465 20MHz scope. Not to mention much smaller form factor and feature pack is much better on the Rigol.
Thanks Dave! What an excellent review. I've just bought a DS1202Z-E and I think this will help me to have a more comprehensive insight about what else I can do with it when arrives.
Thanks for putting so much effort in this review and series. What a great source of information! I wish all product reviews were as comprehensive as this. Big thumbs up!
I just bought this scope, with all the options officially enabled and the 16-channel digital probe. Yeah it's a five-year-old design. I got the 100MHz version, DS1104-Z, to replace my 35-year-old Tektronix 2246. I love that scope, which weighs approximately a half ton. So far I'm very impressed. It does take some time to boot. I would have liked an ESD wrist strap grounding point, but I'll make do. The controls are taking some getting used to, since they are shared by all four channels. Some of the on-screen menu items are, shall we say, not very well translated.
I've had the DS1102-Z for about a month. The only other oscilloscope I've had before was the Hantek 6022BL which I’m keeping for the Logic Analyser. In reality though this is my first real 'scope. I don’t think I will need more than 2 channels, at least for the time being. Rigol U.K. had it in a sale with all the triggers, decoders and software installed. I've got heck of a lot to learn on it, watching this video again reminded me just how much.
I've owned this scope for a couple of months now. While watching this video, I'm noticing that the probes that were included in mine are of a different model number. his were the RP2200, while mine are the PVP2150. Now, comparing the spec sheet to mine, it appears the only difference in defined specifications is the input capacitance. My PVP2150's being "1x: 50pf, 10x: 10pf" his RP2200's being "1x: 100pf, 10x: 17pf", (both with the same +- tolerances.) At first I was concerned they might have started shipping lower-quality probes. If anything, these are better (in specs at least). Though, given the nominal difference, I suspect build quality/usability will play at least an equal role. All said, I am happy with the probes I received. (Thanks for bearing with me. This post was slowly written as I found documentation and considered possibilities. The main point that I wanted to make was that the probes are different!)
You're not the only one. I have the same probes as you and they don't seem as good as the RP2200. The one thing I don't like about ours is the X1 / X10 switches are not as easy to recognise and switch as the ones that Dave has.
Andy P I'm glad to hear that. I've actually for taking follow-up here, as I've just tested probes 3'& 4. I've of them simply will not adjust properly. To be honest, if I were to purchase today, I'd doubtlessly get the Siglent 1202X- E. It's just a more modern, and significantly better, device. Look up specs for yourself, but aside from having 4 BNC inputs, you're just losing out.
At mine I received four PVP3150 probes. In the specifications it says 1x: 50pF and 10x: 10pF The dimmer button is black and does not appear to be easy to operate by mistake. In my opinion, the most important thing about a probe is the quality of the cable, in the end it is a transmission line and not just a coaxial shielded cable, for this reason the insulation of the center wire must be made of kapton / teflon and also exceptional materials. But who are we to teach RIGOL what and how to do? : D Enjoy what you have because years ago you never dreamed and could not financially approach such incredible tools. I've come to deepen the electronics and now I can design, not just troubleshoot, and yet when I enter the submenus of the buttons I have situations when I crash worse than a Windows. The truth is, I've only had it for a day! :))) This is by a grandfather from Romania: D Good luck !
Revisiting this video. When I bought this scope, my eyes were very good, being nearsighted. Now, a handfull of years later, its more of an issue. Doh! Good call, I didn't pay enough attention to your feedback on the size of the letters/numbers.
Dave, I was about to purchase a Hantek 6254BD 4-CH Oscilloscope with AWG, 250Mhz, 1GSa/s. The Arbitrary Waveform generator was a bit of a nicety but not needed for most of what I do (hardware design for vintage computers). The USB Hantek seemed perfect because it allowed easy screen capture of the waveforms for inclusion in my documentation. However, I stumbled across this video of yours from 2015 and this Rigol for maybe $150 more seems to be light years ahead of the newest Hantek. I'm about to scour all of your videos looking for a newer version of this scope - perhaps you could point me to your current recommendation for such a scope as I am positive that I'd rather get a Rigol. I love your show - the hours I've spent after my heart surgery staring at youtube have been well spent viewing your EEVBlog and that Canadian fellow - Mr. Carlson (I love that guys stuff almost as much as yours... almost). :)
Hi, I've noticed on your recent eevBLAB videos and this one there is different capitalisation, this one has a capital B and the eevBLAB has it opposite to normal EEVblog. Just thought I'd mention it. :) Nice review
Another great video Dave. I purchased this scope today expecting delivery tomorrow, can't wait. I myself am a hobbyist so think it will fit the bill for my purposes.
I bought this scope, and I'm still being surprised by it. And every time I encounter some slight limitation I have to kick myself and remember how little I paid for it.
Great Review, I bought one! $349 shipped. new in box. I was looking for a new digital color scope and for the little extra over the real cheap ones this is the schnizzle. Thanks I have really been enjoying all of your vids. I like the vernacular I have a bunch of new stuff for the guys at work.
Love the review, this is my first time posting and thought I would say thanks. Just picked one of these scopes from TE to replace my monochrome tds1002. Can't wait to to mess with it.
For those of us with defective color vision the two blues are almost indistinguishable. And trying to read resistor color codes OMG is that red or brown?
Stephen Woods Aren't there helping devices with a camera which shows the different color tones as text? I think I have seen something like this some time ago, so that people with disabled color vision can distinguish colors.
Stephen Woods Exactly. I knew the color coding for resistors, but I was never able to read those colors... Later i discovered that I have light color spect. defficiency. Funny thing is that this is very common in the male population, like more than 10%... And two blues on the scope, that's just clasic....
The Channel colours where chosen to provide the best contrast. First 3 channels are all a combination of two main colours. First Yellow (both green and red sub-pixels at max) Second Cyan (green and blue sub-pixels at max) Third channel Magenta (red and blue) And they needed to find another strident colour anther out of the 3 the blue is the coldest. White will have been another choice but it will have been even closer to cyan than blue. I think considering the choices they made the best choice.
Hey Dave, here it is 2018, and I've got a b-day coming up next month, thinking about buying one of these for myself. How do you feel about the DS1054Z a few years on? I still see many positive comments about it, and I know there are some hacks out to improve it's functionality. But as a computer professional, with some programming experience, and a beginning electronics hobbyist, who's already spent far too much on stuff that I'm still not 100% sure how to use yet, let alone how to create anything interesting or useful I want to make sure I pick up a scope that is useful and easy to learn on. Do you think the DS1054Z still fits that bill or is there something else I might want to look at instead?
I'm on the same same same exact situation here, computer professional willing to dig in electronics as a hobby, but I'm on my way buying a Siglent SDS1202X-E, on EEVblog forums everybody preferred 2 channels with better specs than 4 channels with worst spects (Rigol).
@@coriscotupi In fact I didn't click the Buy button, and still I have to decide, I'm more confused than yesterday. I just want to start learning how to use oscilloscopes, to repair broken devices.
@@tanner1985 First thing to do is to decide if you really need an oscilloscope beside the fact that it's a fun toy. For a lot of repairs a simple multimeter can do the job just fine (sometimes even better because they're much easier to use) at a fraction of the cost. When a multimeter really doesn't suffice anymore, you will have a clear idea of what YOU want the scope to do and the market becomes a lot less confusing.
I replaced the fan of my DS1054z with a Omega Typhoon 50mm (model CFZ-5010S), 8.10CFM, 3700RPM, 17 dBA. Now the noise is so faint that if you don't pay attention you just don't hear it. The scope is not overheating, so everything is ok.
Hat tip, but if you look at 1:12:10 you will see the National Instruments install link in the Start Menu. Windows defaults to "highlighting newly installed programs." Not that it matters since it won't work without right clicking in the other app and loading it there, just saying. The software seems like absolute crud, they need compression I guess or a better custom format. USB or Ethernet should easily be able to handle 800x480 data at real time. Could probably encode the actual wave forms even better at the sake of more processing time. Maybe they just don't have the extra juice though and it's on the hardware side.
On one side, I really like the focus on the price here. It matters a lot for me as it would be my first scope. However, as you go through these features I would really appreciate some truth in advertising, ie. when you use features NOT included in the "cheap" price, please say so. Or rather, let's talk the REAL price given the features you're covering so well. Love your channel!
Hmm i can see this vid is listed on my "subscriptions" tab...and therefore i tuned in;) What a massive 78min video, Dave.... Sorry to say this, but you simply can´t compare a $400 DSO features along with DSOs within the doubled pricerange. I think we need to give rigol a biiig thanx here, for this scope with respect to its PriceTag....:) I bought my 2ch DSO about some 5 years ago for nearly the same price. ( i only wanted that FFT so badly) That´s how technology moves on. Let´s see what´s up within the next 5 years. As i keep watching your channel, and see what they come up with as time moves on;) What a cool help menu, in my scope is more or less useless... They put a lot of work in it, well done RIGOL! This Pass/Fail feature (45:50) is a killer for me, as with something like that, i can run an amplifier without having my eyes on the screen all the time, as the scope tracks it, and simply can shut the whole thing down via a little DIY addon to that rear BNC... They done a cool scope but an awful job for that "addon" PC software (1:14:00).... Thanx a *lot*, Dave for this one!
Having the trigger centered at 1/2 the screen is a bit silly in my opinion, most things you usually want to see happen after the trigger, right? In a tek 2232 you can move it to 1/4th or to 3/4th pushing a single button. I'd love to see this feature in the rigols. As Rigol seems to listen to you, Dave, perhaps you could ask them for that?
The UI could be: pushing the trig pos button once centers it (1/2), but if you press twice/a second time puts it at 1/4th, three times at 3/4th, a fourth time back again at 1/2 and etc (in a loop).
Haven't really used a scope since CRT days. I've avoided buying one because of the price and size (mostly size) but I think both of these are coming within range.
Watched the whole one hour 19 minutes video, with the anticipation of you going through the math section. I was especially interested in the FFT capabilities of the instrument. How many points, Amplitude accuracy, whether log is applied to the transform. But unfortunately, you did not say anything about it. 🙁. Otherwise it was a very good video.
Kinda late here, but I just bought one of these for My-First-Oscope. Bookmarking this vid to come back to as I learn how to use it better. Good video quality & production 🍆🍆
Same with me. I just hate to see the "Software successfully installed" Screen and afterwards you find no Trace of how to start it. It's just vanished in the haze. These guys just wanna make you go nuts. Nevertheless - gorgeous vid about a fantastic scope. just added it to my wishlist.
At 50:56 you discuss the record function under the utility menu but I am not seeing that on my DS1054Z is there anything special you need to do to enable that? TIA
Bought a Rigol 1054Z in Jan '22 off the back of this, a few other of Dave's videos, and his forum (which detailed the way to "enhance" the scope 😏). I bought a BitScope some years ago and it's "OK" for VERY basic use but not a good platform for education. In contrast, in the 11 months I've been using this DSO I've learnt SO much about primarily because of it's performance and it's vast support online. To this day, I'm still ploughing discovering useful features. Very happy with the purchase, cheers Dave!
Encoder indent: I actually like the rotary encoders a lot, much prefer them to harder, clickier ones, as the latter are more taxing on the finger joints, which can get kinda unpleasant when cranking a lot of clicks in a row.
I have watched your video a lot， It turned out the producers is right in my city. God, damn it! I have to go check it before buying one. Just about 20 kilometers from where I live.😊
How well does that work? The decoders for the analog channels are pretty useless because they only decode the on screen signal. Zoom in and you only see half a packet, zoom out and it doesn't work because it can't resolve the signals. So I use a cheap $20 logic analyzer for that but certainly wouldn't be opposed to a good score implementation. So, can it just record digital signals and show you all the decoded data for like a few seconds?
@@LuLeBe it basically behaves like a digital logic analyzer. You also can view the analog probes at the same time, not sure how they did that. The full analyzer trace is decoded.
Small thing that bugs me, there are so many different colours they could have used, why did they use slightly different shades of blue for 2 channels. It's especially hard to differentiate on the tiny colour coded text for the measurement. Has someone else got a patent on red, green, blue, yellow or something?
How often does Rigol do firmware upgrades? How likely is it that some of the improvements you suggested, like transparency and font, would be implemented as a firmware update? I do audio engineering, and some of the improvements we get on digital audio consoles with firmware upgrades are amazing - sometimes it is like getting a whole new console.
Really just bug fixes. Same for other cheaper brands, not sure how the more professional ones handle it (Rohde&Schwarz etc). But I would not expect anything to be updated with these, tbh.
Thank very much for taking all the time to make this. Extremely helpful even for someone with >30 years in the game. As your biggest critic, I intent that as my highest compliment. Please consider going back to this style of video on occasion. Not even experienced people can afford to lose touch with entry level instruments. It's nearly Christmas and I need to help a kid who is stuck with Arduino cancer. What better thing than this scope and one of those Digilent logic analysers?
19:58 Definitely should have chosen another colour. and when you consider the color of the rubber rings on the probes, the colour should have been GREEN for the second one
I an happy with my 1054z. I do wish the software was open source. I would like to have dBu and dBV along with volts RMS. I bet they would sell a lot more if it was the Arduino of scopes. I do understand that a Python hack could work. Still, open source would allow you to change the font, too.
As a programmer, I wouldn't put up much fuss about the horizontal display/resolution when at picoseconds. It doesn't make much sense to truncate the precision (display). I'd find it more likely to throw me off when/if it would change to seem more relative for the division factor. My two cents, anyway.
I just bought one of these. The serial decoding functionality is nice, but I was wondering if there's a way for this scope to decode UART. I only see RS232, SPI, and I2C in the settings
If working on vintage audio gear and need to apply 1 KHz tone with 10 dB into the audio line IN of the deck being worked on, How do I go by setting 10 dB value and do I need a special RCA cable to connect from the oscilloscope output to the audio equipment?
Because everybody is installing those for free (just google hack rigol ds1054z) at least at the moment Rigol is giving those for free with new scope. I think reseller from Finland was saying that its 600$ package. And same time it goes from 50mhz to 100mhz
But I did not see any capability to trigger on a given pulse length (e.g. min. 340µs or whatever). Is it hidden somewhere or is that not possible with this scope?
Yes, the DS1054Z has a pulse trigger that allows you to set polarity and choose to trigger on greater than a certain length, less than a certain length, or between two lengths. See page 5-8 of the manual. There's also slope triggering and a lot of other good options. (I'm not sure if pulse triggering is standard in the base model or is one of the upgrade options, but all the options are coming with the 'scopes these days anyway.)
I got the 100Mhz version as a beginner (yeah, perhaps I could have software cracked the 50Mhz but still), and I've learnt more about how to use it watching this than I did with the online help. The RIgol UltraScope software is appalling, and I was grimacing as Dave was installing it. 2 or 3 second screen refresh, it's useless. Other than that, I'm happy. It will do me for a while. PS. The latest version is no better :(
New direct from Amazon, or from 3rd party seller?? Some Rigols are known for having only software limitations that can be 'hacked' to full functionality.
After I saw the screen capture on my display, I noticed that the LCD on this unit dave has has a very blue tint. You see where they have saved money: Cheap crappy TN LCD. But is a proper IPS panel with same resolution really that much more expensive?
With the Ultra scope you can click on those boxes in the software and type in values, for voltage and other stuff, but it is slow. You have to give it a second to convert what you input, into its own form. But it does allow you to alter the scope from a computer keyboard. Not great stuff though.
Is it still the same piece of SW-PC crap one will get with a modern Rigol MSO5000 series? Mindblowing how many in this Meter & scope-segment that screw up the PC SW
If I'm measuring a DC, of Example 5 V, on any particular channel. Why does the reading of "max voltage" reading measurement (that can be selected in the menu on the left) start to increase as I increase the volts per division? Ending at a reading of 8V when I am on 50V/div instead of 5V when I have not changed the voltage being measured?
The signal is converted by a not-very-impressive 8 bit ADC (analog to digital converter). If your input voltage exceeds what can be captured by 8 bits, then it is meaningless. Suppose 10 volts is full scale deflection and the ADC is in the range -127 to +128 and so 10 volts *is* that +128. Well, 20 volts is also +128, 100 volts is still just +128 on the ADC. So, knowing the maximum volts that can be measured is a function of the scale setting. Notice that the granularity is not impressive; it won't be reading 3 digits accurately when you have only 8 bits.
Well, the price of the hardware is good, but all the additional software updates costs a lot: Advanced trigger option for DS1000Z => 196,35 € Serial decoding and trigger option for DS1000Z (RS232/UART, I2C, and SPI) => 196,35 € Waveform record and play option for DS1000Z => 142,8 € 24Mpts memory depth option for DS1000Z Oscilloscopes => 196,35 € So to some it up, 731,85 € just for the whole software. That's nearly as twice as much as the oscilloscope itself. I would assume there are other oscilloscopes out there, that are cheaper and have all that software features included. EDIT: The video can also a little bit misleading, because the additional software updates that are shown in the video are not in this 400 € price of the scope included.
But you know you can hack the scope right? And get all of those above options for free? Of course a company wouldn't do that, but for hobbyists it is fair to assume they would. That means you do get a 100mhz scope with all options for 400ish €.
@@tHaH4x0r I disagree. It's illegal and if your country takes the rule of law serious, then this is important. Especially if you want to sell the oscilloscope some day. If the manufacturer would see hacking by hobbyists fair, they would offer all the additional features at a low price for private usage.
@@OpenGL4ever It is illegal? Under what law? And please do show me the first person that will ever be arrested for hacking his Rigol scope. Just doesn't happen. There is no law prohibiting you from hacking your scope. The only thing it might do, is void your warranty. It is not breaking any laws in any country, at most breaking terms of service or breach of contract, which is civil law. You bought the oscilloscope, you can do with it what you want. If the manufacturer wanted to stop people doing this (which they could easily do by the way) they should put in the proper security features to make it nearly impossible to hack. "If the manufacturer would see hacking by hobbyists fair" I dont think you understand that making your scopes hackable is a marketing decision by itself. Hell, this is exactly how Rigol managed to capture nearly 100% of the low end scope market, even-though in the beginning it was a fairly unknown brand. By 'officially' needing keys, companies are legally obliged to indeed pay for the upgrades. Hence by making them poorly secured companies are still obliged to get the official keys by paying for them, whilst the scopes are still attractive to hobbyists because of the massive amount of features for the price after hacking. And Rigol is not the only company doing this on purpose. Siglent does so as well, and not just with scopes, but also signal gens etc. All of these brands know pretty damn well that most hobbyists hack their scopes instead of buying a higher end model. They could easily prevent this from happening (like Keysight/Agilent, R&S, Tek etc) but they don't. Even after so many years they still use weak ways of generating the keys. That's not a coincidence nor incompetence. It is a conscious business decision. One that I applaud, as it gets scopes in the hands of people who previously couldn't afford one, and later when they can afford expensive stuff for a company, they are more likely to buy that equipment.
@@tHaH4x0r 1. German law. UrhG § 97 Anspruch auf Unterlassung und Schadensersatz and UrhG § 106 Unerlaubte Verwertung urheberrechtlich geschützter Werke. 2. "Just doesn't happen" That claim is irrelevant from a legal standpoint. You could also have a Ex-Wife or Ex-Friend that betray your crimes and tell the police. And if you have sold you oscilloscope with all that features active but without a legal license it gets worse. 3. "There is no law prohibiting you from hacking your scope" of course there is. Read above. 4. " You bought the oscilloscope, you can do with it what you want. " That isn't valid for the software. 5. "If the manufacturer wanted to stop people doing this (which they could easily do by the way) they should put in the proper security features to make it nearly impossible to hack." That's not possible. DRM never worked without errors. If you have access to the device everything is possible from a technical standpoint. 6. "I dont think you understand that making your scopes hackable is a marketing decision by itself. " Irrelevant in court and from a legal standpoint. It also doesn't help in your defence.
my 1054 has a limit of 10mV on the vertical position and i see that this unit has 1mV parameter limit? is this feature only available if you buy extra extensions?
Hi Dave, I am getting this scope and i was wondering which signal/function generator would accompany this scope in range up to 1000$ (US)? I am mostly interested in general repair/test of equipment/components and some hardware design. (Expanding my lab so I am looking for good equipment to advance my knowledge)? Thanks in advance, Dave :) Love your work.
I see that if you buy this scope today (nov. 2018) the extra features are already unlocked from within the factory, without extra cost.
Everything except the 100MHz
@@jp3354 Of course, they're not giving 1104z for the price of 1054z.
@@jussapitka6041 you can still do the "hack" to unlock the 100mhz. First thing I did a couple weeks back when I got mine.
@@jp3354 It's still hackable? Someone told me with newer firmware you can't unlock 100 Mhz anymore!
@@tanner1985 just got mine {June 2019} easily hacked to 100mhz, enev updated firmware, hack still works...
Gees, I've had this scope for over a month and only today did I discover that, with the latest firmware update, they added FILTERS! Low pass, high pass, band pass and notch filter. It's under Math -> Operator and all the way down in the menu (doesn't show until you go all the way down). It is only software filtering though. And at 35:40 Sin(x)/x can be switched off if you have 3 or more channels turned on. You can see at 36:12 that the switch is no longer grayed out because Dave switched on all 4 channels.
I use this scope regularly for my master's project and I have to say that this piece of equipment is intuitive and easy to use!
Keep up the 1 hour+ reviews. They are awesomely detailed and entertaining.
Thank you very much Dave.
Doubt if Rigol is making much money off these, but it's still brilliant. They've created a product that almost every electronics student and hobbyist knows about and wants. Sell them their first one they'll come back for more. Long term planning by Rigol.
Rigol should thank you for convincing me to pick up one for myself. What a great little package this one. And lol at your frustration with the software, I think we all wanted to lie down after that nightmare
Great video Dave. Had my 1054 for almost a year now. This video has shown me stuff I didn’t know it could do. I usually just run simple tests on audio gear. Nice to know about all these features as I learn. Thanks for the great videos and sharing your knowledge. Just an old guy trying to learn a few new tricks. Was in the machining/mechanical engineering trade for 30 years, now I am learning more about my lifelong hobby in electronics.
This was one of the best reviews of the Rigol I could find & for any scope on Utube, for that matter. Sincerely, Thank you!
I can't wait until you film a teardown of a crusty headlamp. Now that will be even more valuable. Just as sincerely, but in a different vein.
this should arrive at my place in about 8hrs, first scope, im really pumped! I was going to go with daves advice to grab an analog scope on ebay but for the price (+ ability to soft mod) it was hard to invest 100+ in a scope i have to do math on vs this.
Thanks for all your excellent factual and sometimes entertaining (multi-meter destruction) videos Dave!
Looking at this review, I came to the conclusion that this device is underpowered, processor wise, and rather sluggish as far as display is concerned. But, I've bought one nonetheless because of the outstanding bang-for-buck ratio. It will replace my UniT UT-81B scopemeter very nicely. Thanks for the honest review Dave.
The software frequency counter issue Dave talks about at 55:15 seems to have been resolved. At least, I'm having no such trouble with it on my scope which I bought a week ago.
This scope is absolutely worth it, the thing has such massive community support which is vital when you're a total newbie, if you buy those weird chinese scopes with seemingly randomly generated brand names you're lucky if you're even going to find a single search result that isn't the sales listing itself so you would struggle with finding answers to anything since every scope is different.
0000000000000
Appreciate the guidance and in depth review - still trying to pick between the plethora of choices out there for digital oscilloscopes and this has been a really great channel!
Well, they apparently made quite a nice piece of equipment as I bough it recently after 6 years from this video. Although I found a 2 channel version of this exact model, which I am not sure why it exists, LEDs for the 3rd and 4th channel buttons still visible while booting. I am surprised by the functionality of the device. Couple minor frustrations I had were; no dedicated "back" button, kind of soft encoders, overly sensitive multipurpose button while wandering in the menu, not being able to hide the menus, and the fact that for whatever reason they have both up-down arrows on left side together at the bottom, and one on top and one on bottom for the right side. Although I haven't used it much so far, I am perfectly happy with the device.
Actually, DS1104Z Plus (MSO ready) is much better at the digital measurements / decoding options, but costs almost $1k. Got one and I'm really happy with it. They improved the firmware a bit, certain glitches aren't there anymore, a great scope IMHO. There's a minor side effect, it takes 1 analog channel per 8 digital inputs (CH3 and CH4 go down for a full 16ch LA), therefore you may only measure 2 analog channels and 2x8 digital channels at the same time.
Just received this nifty scope.
I use it for low frequency audio applications only (up to 20kHz), so 50Mhz is already an overkill.
4 Channels is nice to compare audio signals at different stages of the circuit.
FFT is good for tuning EQ's.
Couldn't care less about PC connectivity.
What's not to love?
Ray Tracer good thing it’s actually 100Mhz
Another Dave's fan. I laugh a lot with your videos. You make electronics funny XD. I'm a hobbyist and today, after reading millions of pages and looking tons of videos, i bought mi first scope: a RIGOL DS1054Z. Thanks Dave !!!
The only complaint: the fan is very noisy. I love to work in silence but this is like to be in a hot summer with a fan near the head (but withouth the sweet breeze in the face)
May I ask why you didnt buy the Hantek DSO5202P ?
I'm sold! I want one of these.... Only one problem... I have no idea what the hell I'd do with it, other than use it as a very expensive voltage meter. But that was the best review I've seen in years... Had me laughing not to mention I stayed awake for the whole thing. I'm just a beginner with Arduino and I'm just trying to learn how it all comes together. But seriously that was awesome!
A scope like this goes well beyond measuring DC voltage, Arduino has several PWM (pulse width modulation) channels, which only multimeters costing MUCH more may give a general idea of what’s going on. Also it helps with comparing several signals at once, for example as a beginner imagine a 555 timer. You can compare the output to the timing capacitor just to see the 1/3 to 2/3 comparison to the pin 3 output... that’s just a simple idea. A multimeter could never replace a oscilloscope. You can see the real time functions with a scope, you will eventually grow with the scope and get a much better understanding of electronics in general.
I like Dave's channel a lot, but it almost feels like this video is an advertisement for the scope.
Even so, I'm sold. I bought one, unlocked it's features, and set it up. It's not perfect, but it's really slick.
+Falcrist How did you unlock? $$ or hack?
Google riglol. :D
Falcrist Why mention then?
Putins Cat
I don't understand what you mean. I used a key generator to unlock my Rigol.
Are you confused because Riglol looks like Rigol?
Falcrist I though the lol was a laugh. I'll check it out..
Minor thing, at 15:30(ish) you compare the noise to a Rigol 2000/3000 series, while you have an Agilent 3054a on screen... was this a bonus for people who actually watch?
Regarding the trial licenses for features and the small text:
The hours for the trial licenses for the extra features (such as RS-232 decoding and the like) are not based on use of the feature but on total scope on-time. So after 35 hours or so the RS-232 decoding license will be expired, even if you had never tried it.
While the text on the screen is indeed small, it's not been an issue at all for me even with somewhat poor eyesight. I have moderate presbyopia and even with 2.0 diopter reading glasses and a magnifying glass I often find it difficult to read things like PC board lettering and printing on chips, but the DS1054Z screen has been no problem. This is possibly because it's quite bright, which helps with presbyopia.
Thanks for the review. I ordered mine yesterday. It is a huge upgrade to my venerable old Tektronix 465 20MHz scope. Not to mention much smaller form factor and feature pack is much better on the Rigol.
Thanks Dave! What an excellent review. I've just bought a DS1202Z-E and I think this will help me to have a more comprehensive insight about what else I can do with it when arrives.
Thanks for putting so much effort in this review and series. What a great source of information! I wish all product reviews were as comprehensive as this. Big thumbs up!
I just bought this scope, with all the options officially enabled and the 16-channel digital probe. Yeah it's a five-year-old design. I got the 100MHz version, DS1104-Z, to replace my 35-year-old Tektronix 2246. I love that scope, which weighs approximately a half ton.
So far I'm very impressed. It does take some time to boot. I would have liked an ESD wrist strap grounding point, but I'll make do.
The controls are taking some getting used to, since they are shared by all four channels. Some of the on-screen menu items are, shall we say, not very well translated.
I've had the DS1102-Z for about a month. The only other oscilloscope I've had before was the Hantek 6022BL which I’m keeping for the Logic Analyser. In reality though this is my first real 'scope. I don’t think I will need more than 2 channels, at least for the time being. Rigol U.K. had it in a sale with all the triggers, decoders and software installed. I've got heck of a lot to learn on it, watching this video again reminded me just how much.
I've owned this scope for a couple of months now. While watching this video, I'm noticing that the probes that were included in mine are of a different model number. his were the RP2200, while mine are the PVP2150. Now, comparing the spec sheet to mine, it appears the only difference in defined specifications is the input capacitance. My PVP2150's being "1x: 50pf, 10x: 10pf" his RP2200's being "1x: 100pf, 10x: 17pf", (both with the same +- tolerances.)
At first I was concerned they might have started shipping lower-quality probes. If anything, these are better (in specs at least). Though, given the nominal difference, I suspect build quality/usability will play at least an equal role. All said, I am happy with the probes I received. (Thanks for bearing with me. This post was slowly written as I found documentation and considered possibilities. The main point that I wanted to make was that the probes are different!)
You're not the only one. I have the same probes as you and they don't seem as good as the RP2200. The one thing I don't like about ours is the X1 / X10 switches are not as easy to recognise and switch as the ones that Dave has.
Andy P I'm glad to hear that. I've actually for taking follow-up here, as I've just tested probes 3'& 4. I've of them simply will not adjust properly. To be honest, if I were to purchase today, I'd doubtlessly get the Siglent 1202X- E. It's just a more modern, and significantly better, device. Look up specs for yourself, but aside from having 4 BNC inputs, you're just losing out.
At mine I received four PVP3150 probes. In the specifications it says 1x: 50pF and 10x: 10pF
The dimmer button is black and does not appear to be easy to operate by mistake.
In my opinion, the most important thing about a probe is the quality of the cable, in the end it is a transmission line and not just a coaxial shielded cable, for this reason the insulation of the center wire must be made of kapton / teflon and also exceptional materials.
But who are we to teach RIGOL what and how to do? : D Enjoy what you have because years ago you never dreamed and could not financially approach such incredible tools.
I've come to deepen the electronics and now I can design, not just troubleshoot, and yet when I enter the submenus of the buttons I have situations when I crash worse than a Windows. The truth is, I've only had it for a day! :)))
This is by a grandfather from Romania: D
Good luck !
Revisiting this video. When I bought this scope, my eyes were very good, being nearsighted. Now, a handfull of years later, its more of an issue. Doh! Good call, I didn't pay enough attention to your feedback on the size of the letters/numbers.
Just bought one (on the advice of a friend) and it came with all options officially installed
Dave, I was about to purchase a Hantek 6254BD 4-CH Oscilloscope with AWG, 250Mhz, 1GSa/s. The Arbitrary Waveform generator was a bit of a nicety but not needed for most of what I do (hardware design for vintage computers). The USB Hantek seemed perfect because it allowed easy screen capture of the waveforms for inclusion in my documentation. However, I stumbled across this video of yours from 2015 and this Rigol for maybe $150 more seems to be light years ahead of the newest Hantek. I'm about to scour all of your videos looking for a newer version of this scope - perhaps you could point me to your current recommendation for such a scope as I am positive that I'd rather get a Rigol. I love your show - the hours I've spent after my heart surgery staring at youtube have been well spent viewing your EEVBlog and that Canadian fellow - Mr. Carlson (I love that guys stuff almost as much as yours... almost). :)
I remember back in the early eighties I payed 400-500 USD for a 4 Mhz analog B&K scope with 2 channels. For the same price this scope is awesome!
MEM-Depth 24M/12M/6M means 24M for 1ch, 12M if you have 2ch on and 6M per ch if you have all ch on... without this option, it is half that
Hi, I've noticed on your recent eevBLAB videos and this one there is different capitalisation, this one has a capital B and the eevBLAB has it opposite to normal EEVblog. Just thought I'd mention it. :) Nice review
Another great video Dave. I purchased this scope today expecting delivery tomorrow, can't wait. I myself am a hobbyist so think it will fit the bill for my purposes.
Thank you very much. Two days ago, I was in one step from another... Today I now what I need as my first oscilloscope!
Best, most comprehensive review I have seen!
BUT what is the upper limit on the hardware frequency counter?
I bought this scope, and I'm still being surprised by it. And every time I encounter some slight limitation I have to kick myself and remember how little I paid for it.
Great Review, I bought one! $349 shipped. new in box. I was looking for a new digital color scope and for the little extra over the real cheap ones this is the schnizzle. Thanks I have really been enjoying all of your vids. I like the vernacular I have a bunch of new stuff for the guys at work.
Love the review, this is my first time posting and thought I would say thanks. Just picked one of these scopes from TE to replace my monochrome tds1002. Can't wait to to mess with it.
I don't really like the cyan and blue channel colors, but I can see the difference... We need a custom ROM for this thing w/ adjustable colors :D
For those of us with defective color vision the two blues are almost indistinguishable.
And trying to read resistor color codes OMG is that red or brown?
Stephen Woods Aren't there helping devices with a camera which shows the different color tones as text? I think I have seen something like this some time ago, so that people with disabled color vision can distinguish colors.
***** That would sort of defeat the whole point of a $400 scope
Stephen Woods
Exactly. I knew the color coding for resistors, but I was never able to read those colors... Later i discovered that I have light color spect. defficiency. Funny thing is that this is very common in the male population, like more than 10%...
And two blues on the scope, that's just clasic....
The Channel colours where chosen to provide the best contrast.
First 3 channels are all a combination of two main colours.
First Yellow (both green and red sub-pixels at max)
Second Cyan (green and blue sub-pixels at max)
Third channel Magenta (red and blue)
And they needed to find another strident colour anther out of the 3 the blue is the coldest.
White will have been another choice but it will have been even closer to cyan than blue.
I think considering the choices they made the best choice.
Yup. The light blue and dark blue are too close. It should have been Yellow, Blue, Red, and Green.
Hey Dave, here it is 2018, and I've got a b-day coming up next month, thinking about buying one of these for myself. How do you feel about the DS1054Z a few years on? I still see many positive comments about it, and I know there are some hacks out to improve it's functionality. But as a computer professional, with some programming experience, and a beginning electronics hobbyist, who's already spent far too much on stuff that I'm still not 100% sure how to use yet, let alone how to create anything interesting or useful I want to make sure I pick up a scope that is useful and easy to learn on. Do you think the DS1054Z still fits that bill or is there something else I might want to look at instead?
Nine months on, how did that go? Did you end up purchasing the scope? How do you like it?
I'm on the same same same exact situation here, computer professional willing to dig in electronics as a hobby, but I'm on my way buying a Siglent SDS1202X-E, on EEVblog forums everybody preferred 2 channels with better specs than 4 channels with worst spects (Rigol).
@@tanner1985 Excellent point. Go for 4-ch only if you really need it. I'm thinking the same.
@@coriscotupi In fact I didn't click the Buy button, and still I have to decide, I'm more confused than yesterday. I just want to start learning how to use oscilloscopes, to repair broken devices.
@@tanner1985 First thing to do is to decide if you really need an oscilloscope beside the fact that it's a fun toy. For a lot of repairs a simple multimeter can do the job just fine (sometimes even better because they're much easier to use) at a fraction of the cost. When a multimeter really doesn't suffice anymore, you will have a clear idea of what YOU want the scope to do and the market becomes a lot less confusing.
I replaced the fan of my DS1054z with a Omega Typhoon 50mm (model CFZ-5010S), 8.10CFM, 3700RPM, 17 dBA. Now the noise is so faint that if you don't pay attention you just don't hear it. The scope is not overheating, so everything is ok.
Hat tip, but if you look at 1:12:10 you will see the National Instruments install link in the Start Menu. Windows defaults to "highlighting newly installed programs." Not that it matters since it won't work without right clicking in the other app and loading it there, just saying. The software seems like absolute crud, they need compression I guess or a better custom format. USB or Ethernet should easily be able to handle 800x480 data at real time. Could probably encode the actual wave forms even better at the sake of more processing time. Maybe they just don't have the extra juice though and it's on the hardware side.
On one side, I really like the focus on the price here. It matters a lot for me as it would be my first scope. However, as you go through these features I would really appreciate some truth in advertising, ie. when you use features NOT included in the "cheap" price, please say so. Or rather, let's talk the REAL price given the features you're covering so well. Love your channel!
Can you do a review on the Siglent sds1104x-e? maybe comparing it with the ds1054z
Nice review. I have a 2-channel Hantek scope that serves me fine for the moment. If I ever need to upgrade, then your advice is valuable.
Hmm i can see this vid is listed on my "subscriptions" tab...and therefore i tuned in;)
What a massive 78min video, Dave....
Sorry to say this, but you simply can´t compare a $400 DSO features along with DSOs within the doubled pricerange.
I think we need to give rigol a biiig thanx here, for this scope with respect to its PriceTag....:)
I bought my 2ch DSO about some 5 years ago for nearly the same price. ( i only wanted that FFT so badly) That´s how technology moves on.
Let´s see what´s up within the next 5 years. As i keep watching your channel, and see what they come up with as time moves on;)
What a cool help menu, in my scope is more or less useless...
They put a lot of work in it, well done RIGOL!
This Pass/Fail feature (45:50) is a killer for me, as with something like that, i can run an amplifier without having my eyes on the screen all the time, as the scope tracks it, and simply can shut the whole thing down via a little DIY addon to that rear BNC...
They done a cool scope but an awful job for that "addon" PC software (1:14:00)....
Thanx a *lot*, Dave for this one!
Having the trigger centered at 1/2 the screen is a bit silly in my opinion, most things you usually want to see happen after the trigger, right? In a tek 2232 you can move it to 1/4th or to 3/4th pushing a single button. I'd love to see this feature in the rigols. As Rigol seems to listen to you, Dave, perhaps you could ask them for that?
The UI could be: pushing the trig pos button once centers it (1/2), but if you press twice/a second time puts it at 1/4th, three times at 3/4th, a fourth time back again at 1/2 and etc (in a loop).
Haven't really used a scope since CRT days. I've avoided buying one because of the price and size (mostly size) but I think both of these are coming within range.
Watched the whole one hour 19 minutes video, with the anticipation of you going through the math section. I was especially interested in the FFT capabilities of the instrument. How many points, Amplitude accuracy, whether log is applied to the transform. But unfortunately, you did not say anything about it. 🙁. Otherwise it was a very good video.
I'm not an expert but I have the scope and the FFT functionality is Terrible.
Kinda late here, but I just bought one of these for My-First-Oscope. Bookmarking this vid to come back to as I learn how to use it better. Good video quality & production 🍆🍆
Did you enjoy your purchase?
Same with me. I just hate to see the "Software successfully installed" Screen and afterwards you find no Trace of how to start it. It's just vanished in the haze. These guys just wanna make you go nuts. Nevertheless - gorgeous vid about a fantastic scope. just added it to my wishlist.
At 50:56 you discuss the record function under the utility menu but I am not seeing that on my DS1054Z is there anything special you need to do to enable that? TIA
This scope is the type of thing I would expect hobbyists and schools to buy, my high school electronics class owns a atten ga1102
Dave: thanks for the videos. They are very educational and helpful.
Bought a Rigol 1054Z in Jan '22 off the back of this, a few other of Dave's videos, and his forum (which detailed the way to "enhance" the scope 😏).
I bought a BitScope some years ago and it's "OK" for VERY basic use but not a good platform for education. In contrast, in the 11 months I've been using this DSO I've learnt SO much about primarily because of it's performance and it's vast support online. To this day, I'm still ploughing discovering useful features.
Very happy with the purchase, cheers Dave!
Encoder indent: I actually like the rotary encoders a lot, much prefer them to harder, clickier ones, as the latter are more taxing on the finger joints, which can get kinda unpleasant when cranking a lot of clicks in a row.
I have watched your video a lot， It turned out the producers is right in my city. God, damn it! I have to go check it before buying one. Just about 20 kilometers from where I live.😊
I went for the MSO version. Really nice to get 8 channels of analyzer on the screen as the analog probes.
How well does that work? The decoders for the analog channels are pretty useless because they only decode the on screen signal. Zoom in and you only see half a packet, zoom out and it doesn't work because it can't resolve the signals.
So I use a cheap $20 logic analyzer for that but certainly wouldn't be opposed to a good score implementation. So, can it just record digital signals and show you all the decoded data for like a few seconds?
@@LuLeBe it basically behaves like a digital logic analyzer. You also can view the analog probes at the same time, not sure how they did that. The full analyzer trace is decoded.
Small thing that bugs me, there are so many different colours they could have used, why did they use slightly different shades of blue for 2 channels. It's especially hard to differentiate on the tiny colour coded text for the measurement. Has someone else got a patent on red, green, blue, yellow or something?
ConspiraOrg EastGhostCom Damn, wheres my barf bag?
How often does Rigol do firmware upgrades? How likely is it that some of the improvements you suggested, like transparency and font, would be implemented as a firmware update? I do audio engineering, and some of the improvements we get on digital audio consoles with firmware upgrades are amazing - sometimes it is like getting a whole new console.
Really just bug fixes. Same for other cheaper brands, not sure how the more professional ones handle it (Rohde&Schwarz etc). But I would not expect anything to be updated with these, tbh.
Thank very much for taking all the time to make this. Extremely helpful even for someone with >30 years in the game. As your biggest critic, I intent that as my highest compliment. Please consider going back to this style of video on occasion. Not even experienced people can afford to lose touch with entry level instruments. It's nearly Christmas and I need to help a kid who is stuck with Arduino cancer. What better thing than this scope and one of those Digilent logic analysers?
weird
It's on my wishlist. Thank's for the Aussyum video.
57:00 what ? It cannot depict the 1khz signal that i would feed from a frequency generator?? did i understand correctly?
19:58 Definitely should have chosen another colour.
and when you consider the color of the rubber rings on the probes, the colour should have been GREEN for the second one
And this scope is still the best value 4-ch scope on the market! Alan Lowne Saelig Co. Inc.
Lots of mouthwork in your videos ...
I an happy with my 1054z. I do wish the software was open source. I would like to have dBu and dBV along with volts RMS. I bet they would sell a lot more if it was the Arduino of scopes.
I do understand that a Python hack could work. Still, open source would allow you to change the font, too.
grate video i bought one :) finally it was in stock people grab it off the shelf before i can get one
As a programmer, I wouldn't put up much fuss about the horizontal display/resolution when at picoseconds. It doesn't make much sense to truncate the precision (display). I'd find it more likely to throw me off when/if it would change to seem more relative for the division factor.
My two cents, anyway.
I just bought one of these. The serial decoding functionality is nice, but I was wondering if there's a way for this scope to decode UART. I only see RS232, SPI, and I2C in the settings
If working on vintage audio gear and need to apply 1 KHz tone with 10 dB into the audio line IN of the deck being worked on, How do I go by setting 10 dB value and do I need a special RCA cable to connect from the oscilloscope output to the audio equipment?
Multitasking: Feature review AND bug finding at the same time. Nice! I wonder how soon after this video we will see a new firmware update ;-)
4:07 have anybody noticed that the knobs are swaped ? :D Normaly the fat knobs are for scaling timebase and Volts/Div
derp... just watched it
Why are there two PW pre-programmed measurement selections? Is that for breaking down the duty cycles into time vs percent?
36:46 So many scopes; not used to this one yet. First World Problem?
Thank you Dave! Nice Review.
But I'm wondering how much these options cost? Like the I²C and SPI options. Would be nice to know...
Because everybody is installing those for free (just google hack rigol ds1054z) at least at the moment Rigol is giving those for free with new scope. I think reseller from Finland was saying that its 600$ package. And same time it goes from 50mhz to 100mhz
The Ultrascope does work over the Network cable as well as the USB cable. But not much speed increase.
Maybe the pass/fail numbers are averaged?
But I did not see any capability to trigger on a given pulse length (e.g. min. 340µs or whatever). Is it hidden somewhere or is that not possible with this scope?
Yes, the DS1054Z has a pulse trigger that allows you to set polarity and choose to trigger on greater than a certain length, less than a certain length, or between two lengths. See page 5-8 of the manual. There's also slope triggering and a lot of other good options.
(I'm not sure if pulse triggering is standard in the base model or is one of the upgrade options, but all the options are coming with the 'scopes these days anyway.)
I got the 100Mhz version as a beginner (yeah, perhaps I could have software cracked the 50Mhz but still), and I've learnt more about how to use it watching this than I did with the online help.
The RIgol UltraScope software is appalling, and I was grimacing as Dave was installing it. 2 or 3 second screen refresh, it's useless.
Other than that, I'm happy. It will do me for a while.
PS. The latest version is no better :(
I got one of these off Amazon and it seems to have come with all of the hardware upgrades installed. I guess they just give them away now?
New direct from Amazon, or from 3rd party seller?? Some Rigols are known for having only software limitations that can be 'hacked' to full functionality.
Yep, they come with all the options from the factory nowsdays.
After I saw the screen capture on my display, I noticed that the LCD on this unit dave has has a very blue tint. You see where they have saved money: Cheap crappy TN LCD. But is a proper IPS panel with same resolution really that much more expensive?
How does this scope compare to the Siglent SDS1104X-E ???
With the Ultra scope you can click on those boxes in the software and type in values, for voltage and other stuff, but it is slow. You have to give it a second to convert what you input, into its own form. But it does allow you to alter the scope from a computer keyboard. Not great stuff though.
Is it still the same piece of SW-PC crap one will get with a modern Rigol MSO5000 series?
Mindblowing how many in this Meter & scope-segment that screw up the PC SW
I didn't get a quick start guide with mine. It was factory sealed from Adafruit.
If I'm measuring a DC, of Example 5 V, on any particular channel.
Why does the reading of "max voltage" reading measurement (that can be selected in the menu on the left) start to increase as I increase the volts per division?
Ending at a reading of 8V when I am on 50V/div instead of 5V when I have not changed the voltage being measured?
The signal is converted by a not-very-impressive 8 bit ADC (analog to digital converter). If your input voltage exceeds what can be captured by 8 bits, then it is meaningless. Suppose 10 volts is full scale deflection and the ADC is in the range -127 to +128 and so 10 volts *is* that +128. Well, 20 volts is also +128, 100 volts is still just +128 on the ADC. So, knowing the maximum volts that can be measured is a function of the scale setting.
Notice that the granularity is not impressive; it won't be reading 3 digits accurately when you have only 8 bits.
Can I have different steps other than 1, 2, 5 for time/DIV (horizontal axis), for example 30 ms per step? How about the vertical axis?
Is RIGOL a Tektronix brand? I noticed that both companies are based in Beaverton, OR.
Cannot find the software that you mentioned on the EEVBlog Forum? Can you post a link please
Well, the price of the hardware is good, but all the additional software updates costs a lot:
Advanced trigger option for DS1000Z => 196,35 €
Serial decoding and trigger option for DS1000Z (RS232/UART, I2C, and SPI) => 196,35 €
Waveform record and play option for DS1000Z => 142,8 €
24Mpts memory depth option for DS1000Z Oscilloscopes => 196,35 €
So to some it up, 731,85 € just for the whole software.
That's nearly as twice as much as the oscilloscope itself.
I would assume there are other oscilloscopes out there, that are cheaper and have all that software features included.
EDIT:
The video can also a little bit misleading, because the additional software updates that are shown in the video are not in this 400 € price of the scope included.
But you know you can hack the scope right? And get all of those above options for free? Of course a company wouldn't do that, but for hobbyists it is fair to assume they would. That means you do get a 100mhz scope with all options for 400ish €.
@@tHaH4x0r I disagree. It's illegal and if your country takes the rule of law serious, then this is important. Especially if you want to sell the oscilloscope some day.
If the manufacturer would see hacking by hobbyists fair, they would offer all the additional features at a low price for private usage.
@@OpenGL4ever It is illegal? Under what law? And please do show me the first person that will ever be arrested for hacking his Rigol scope. Just doesn't happen.
There is no law prohibiting you from hacking your scope. The only thing it might do, is void your warranty. It is not breaking any laws in any country, at most breaking terms of service or breach of contract, which is civil law. You bought the oscilloscope, you can do with it what you want. If the manufacturer wanted to stop people doing this (which they could easily do by the way) they should put in the proper security features to make it nearly impossible to hack.
"If the manufacturer would see hacking by hobbyists fair" I dont think you understand that making your scopes hackable is a marketing decision by itself. Hell, this is exactly how Rigol managed to capture nearly 100% of the low end scope market, even-though in the beginning it was a fairly unknown brand.
By 'officially' needing keys, companies are legally obliged to indeed pay for the upgrades. Hence by making them poorly secured companies are still obliged to get the official keys by paying for them, whilst the scopes are still attractive to hobbyists because of the massive amount of features for the price after hacking.
And Rigol is not the only company doing this on purpose. Siglent does so as well, and not just with scopes, but also signal gens etc. All of these brands know pretty damn well that most hobbyists hack their scopes instead of buying a higher end model. They could easily prevent this from happening (like Keysight/Agilent, R&S, Tek etc) but they don't. Even after so many years they still use weak ways of generating the keys. That's not a coincidence nor incompetence. It is a conscious business decision. One that I applaud, as it gets scopes in the hands of people who previously couldn't afford one, and later when they can afford expensive stuff for a company, they are more likely to buy that equipment.
@@tHaH4x0r 1. German law. UrhG § 97 Anspruch auf Unterlassung und Schadensersatz and UrhG § 106 Unerlaubte Verwertung urheberrechtlich geschützter Werke.
2. "Just doesn't happen" That claim is irrelevant from a legal standpoint. You could also have a Ex-Wife or Ex-Friend that betray your crimes and tell the police. And if you have sold you oscilloscope with all that features active but without a legal license it gets worse.
3. "There is no law prohibiting you from hacking your scope" of course there is. Read above.
4. " You bought the oscilloscope, you can do with it what you want. " That isn't valid for the software.
5. "If the manufacturer wanted to stop people doing this (which they could easily do by the way) they should put in the proper security features to make it nearly impossible to hack." That's not possible. DRM never worked without errors. If you have access to the device everything is possible from a technical standpoint.
6. "I dont think you understand that making your scopes hackable is a marketing decision by itself. " Irrelevant in court and from a legal standpoint. It also doesn't help in your defence.
@@tHaH4x0r You got an answer from me. Spamfilter plays Mr. stupid again.
my 1054 has a limit of 10mV on the vertical position and i see that this unit has 1mV parameter limit? is this feature only available if you buy extra extensions?
I think I’m gonna get me one! I hope it’s a real Bobby dazzler!
Cant you just move between harmonic peaks in fft automatically? Im not finding a way to do it.. Thanks!
Great video! Loved “dicking around” and other wonderful Australianisms.
I have a question, does the left side of the housing get so hot after buying the 1054Z?
Hi Dave, I am getting this scope and i was wondering which signal/function generator would accompany this scope in range up to 1000$ (US)? I am mostly interested in general repair/test of equipment/components and some hardware design. (Expanding my lab so I am looking for good equipment to advance my knowledge)?
Thanks in advance, Dave :)
Love your work.
whats with daves camera lens? it seems to have serious sharpness problems on the edge.
Hi All, I am looking to buy a Rigol DS1054Z Oscilloscope, does anyone know if the new ones are still hackable?
Bought mine in Jan' 22 and could.