EEVblog 1632 - WHY sell 2CH Oscilloscopes? + Test Engineering

[EEVblog]

It's probably fair to say that the viewership of your videos is heavily slewed towards beginners (not your fault). It worries me when, particularly over recent months, I've seen a number of beginner scope threads where the OP's 'entry level' shopping list consists of various 2Gsample and/or 12 bit (and yes, 4 channel) models, because that's all they see you getting excited about in recent videos. I wonder how many of them will spend £500 on a scope, play around unsuccessfully with some 555s and opamps on a breadboard, get disillusioned and stuff it in a cupboard, together with their fancy AWG and other stuff. Maybe the 20MHz bandwidth filters should be enabled by factory default.

Bottom line, maybe it's time to start putting out some videos on bargain scopes and equipment that will suit beginners, get them through the first couple of years of learning, playing with basic stuff, Arduinos etc. (maybe a lot of them will never need to go past that stage), and see if they're actually going to stick with the hobby. Either that, or start putting a 'parental warning' saying that beginners really don't need this level of stuff, save your money. I think there's a danger of disconnect with your actual (versus target) audience.

You're going to hate the review of the $5k Uni-T function gen and the new Keysight scope then I guess... 

FYI, according to my last viewer poll, my audience is mostly professionals and students. Hobbyists run a distant third.
BUT it does seem true that low cost review videos get more views.

[EEVblog]

The cost difference could be just sample memory and analog signal conditioning.  I suspect the most important reason to provide two channel DSOs is price discrimination through product versioning.  They can charge more for their 4 channel "premium" DSOs by offering 2 channel "economy" models while the costs are practically identical.

Yes, just go look at the teardown of a moden scope. There is very little in the front end now. This is why some manufactuers have been able to sell cheap 4CH scopes in the last 4-5 years. Front ends used to cost money.