Rigol DS1104Z 4-channel 100MHz DSO

[iloveelectronics]

Didn't have a lot of time to do my own things in the last couple of days and only managed to record the following single-channel waveform update rates from the trigger out using a Brymen multmeter. A 1MHz 5Vp-p sine wave was fed into channel 1, memory depth set to AUTO, display in Vector mode. The numbers are mostly averages as the readings did jump around a little bit. I'll try to record more data when I have more time.

5ns: 19,100
10ns: 24,100
20ns: 16,000
50ns: 34,300
100ns: 20,900
200ns: 11,500
500ns: 4,850
1us: 2,490
2us: 1,260
5us: 510
10us: 255
20us: 238
50us: 175
100us: 96
200us: 50.5

[marmad]

Didn't have a lot of time to do my own things in the last couple of days and only managed to record the following single-channel waveform update rates from the trigger out using a Brymen multmeter. A 1MHz 5Vp-p sine wave was fed into channel 1, memory depth set to AUTO, display in Vector mode. The numbers are mostly averages as the readings did jump around a little bit. I'll try to record more data when I have more time.

Thanks for taking the time for this. I would tend to think that your numbers are a bit on the high side (for whatever reason) - since Rigol specifies ~30k wfrm/s in DOT mode @ 50ns/div - and DSO manufacturers generally tend NOT to lower their specifications.    But in any case, it gives an overview of the basic speeds - and they look good.    Just curious how it handles 2 and 4 channels simultaneously. BTW, to test this, you don't need a signal into those channels - they just need to be turned on - while continuing to send the 1MHz signal into the triggering channel.

[iloveelectronics]

Thanks for taking the time for this. I would tend to think that your numbers are a bit on the high side (for whatever reason) - since Rigol specifies ~30k wfrm/s in DOT mode @ 50ns/div - and DSO manufacturers generally tend NOT to lower their specifications.    But in any case, it gives an overview of the basic speeds - and they look good.    Just curious how it handles 2 and 4 channels simultaneously. BTW, to test this, you don't need a signal into those channels - they just need to be turned on - while continuing to send the 1MHz signal into the triggering channel.

I will try to do the tests again when I have the time as there has been some weird problems from time to time with this scope. For whatever reason there was this one time the waveform update rate actually dropped to 50Hz on all time bases on Channel 1 (other channels seemed ok). It was very obvious something was wrong that time even without taking the measurement because even the waveform shown on screen looked very different. A self cal fixed the issue though.

Another issue is that there seems to be always a different offset every time I turn on the scope, usually under 1mV. I don't know if it's because the lab gets rather warm when I'm not there (air conditioner turned off), or that because it's located in an industrial building and so the environment is "noisy" in many different ways or what, but it bugs me a bit.

[marmad]

I will try to do the tests again when I have the time as there has been some weird problems from time to time with this scope. For whatever reason there was this one time the waveform update rate actually dropped to 50Hz on all time bases on Channel 1 (other channels seemed ok). It was very obvious something was wrong that time even without taking the measurement because even the waveform shown on screen looked very different. A self cal fixed the issue though.

One thing you can do to avoid the use of an external frequency counter is to feed the Trigger Out back into a different channel (e.g. channel 2) and use the DSOs built-in frequency counter. This will work perfectly fine for measuring waveform update rates for 2, 3, or 4 channels on (you just can't use this technique for wfrm/s for a single channel obviously).

Another issue is that there seems to be always a different offset every time I turn on the scope, usually under 1mV. I don't know if it's because the lab gets rather warm when I'm not there (air conditioner turned off), or that because it's located in an industrial building and so the environment is "noisy" in many different ways or what, but it bugs me a bit.

Let Rigol know about it. You have to assume that this period (pre-Western sales) is when they're trying to get rid of any lingering bugs big enough to interfere with day-to-day usage.

[crt]

@DS2000 user
How to hide left/right display menus ?
it seem my DS1074Z can not do that

Have try DSA9 ==> Invalid License! 

[marmad]

@DS2000 user
How to hide left/right display menus ?
it seem my DS1074Z can not do that

Have try DSA9 ==> Invalid License! 

On the DS2000, the menus cover part of the waveform display area when they're visible, but on the DS1000Z they don't seem to - so clearly it's not so important to hide them. But what does the 'MENU' button on the left-side top do?

[crt]

On the DS2000, the menus cover part of the waveform display area when they're visible, but on the DS1000Z they don't seem to - so clearly it's not so important to hide them. But what does the 'MENU' button on the left-side top do?

Oh  I understand
I thought it will expand when menus hiding 
Menus on the left side, only change Horizontal/Vertical Menus such Period/Vmax

About trial option, Left-time decrease only when the scope power up ?
because yesterday it showing 70 Hours and now it showing 68 hours

More i play with this scope, more i like it 

[Electro Fan]

Any more updates on the DS1104Z?  More comparisons to DS2000???  Anyone try the decoder functions?  Any further thoughts on the intensity grading?  Thanks!

[bob_60]

What about the fan in this unit. Is it as noisy as on the 1000E series ?

/Bo

[nuno]

I guess the crucial question is: when will Dave review it ?

[ted572]

Please, does anyone know how to access the 'extended' (all of the) DS1000Z installed Firmware information?

[ted572]

What about the fan in this unit. Is it as noisy as on the 1000E series ?

/Bo

No, it is not as loud as the DS1000E's fan. 

[cybermaus]

Really? the DS1000E is worse?

Because the DS1000Z is annoyingly loud. I come from a silent fanless CRO, so maybe I do not have the right references for fan noise on a DSO, but the fan is definitely on my list to replace as soon as a dare to void the warranty sticker.

[marmad]

Really? the DS1000E is worse?

Yes - although perhaps it's not as simple as just a decibel rating. The DS1000E had a shriller, more high-pitched whining sound - whereas my DS2000, although reasonably loud, is a much-more acceptable lower frequency-rumbling type of sound.

[seronday]

Please, does anyone know how to access the 'extended' (all of the) DS1000Z installed Firmware information?

You can get more detailed information from a saved Parameters Text File.
Press the Storage button, set Storage type to Param, Save to USB drive.
The start of the Parameters Txt file contains some additional info.

[ted572]

Please, does anyone know how to access the 'extended' (all of the) DS1000Z installed Firmware information?

You can get more detailed information from a saved Parameters Text File.
Press the Storage button, set Storage type to Param, Save to USB drive.
The start of the Parameters Txt file contains some additional info.

Thank you, this did the job.  Although you would think that there also must be a hidden keyboard shortcut to get the same info as in the DS2000, etc.  Anyway I now have the info I was after, thanks to you.

[Teneyes]

To DS1000z owners:

Marmad is working on a new version of His Rigol Ultravision Utilities to handle all 4 channels of the DS1000Z ). Since he does not own the DSO, He'd appreciate any owners willing to be alpha/beta testers. The link for the current alpha (as well as some explanatory info) is here.