Siglent SDS1104X-E and SDS1204X-E Mixed Signal Oscilloscopes

[Rooster Cogburn]

Just out of curiosity, did they ever fix this in a firmware update:



https://youtu.be/Cwbwq-AKbPc?t=828

When watching reviews that seemed like a total WTF. Putting cursor measurements in such an awkward place and then not adding any shadow/outline/backdrop to the text so that it's basically unreadable once any waveforms are displayed in the center of the screen. I use cursors frequently the thought of having to disable channels and/or move them out of the way to be able to read a poorly positioned and rendered cursor measurements overlay is rather unappealing.

[4x1md]

Just out of curiosity, did they ever fix this in a firmware update:



https://youtu.be/Cwbwq-AKbPc?t=828

When watching reviews that seemed like a total WTF. Putting cursor measurements in such an awkward place and then not adding any shadow/outline/backdrop to the text so that it's basically unreadable once any waveforms are displayed in the center of the screen. I use cursors frequently the thought of having to disable channels and/or move them out of the way to be able to read a poorly positioned and rendered cursor measurements overlay is rather unappealing.

Yes, they finally fixed it. It really looked ugly and cheap before.

[Rooster Cogburn]

It's still not in exactly the most optimal place, but that's progress, I guess :-) I quickly googled through the firmware release notes and couldn't find anything about this, thanks for confirming that Siglent actually addresses these kinds of issues!

Stuff like this is really problematic when looking at reviews since 99% of them were made right when the device came out and the manufacturer/distributor was sending out review units to YouTubers etc. You basically compare scopes by how broken they were in the first couple of months after release, which us not very useful since devices like the 1054Z,  SDS1104X-U, SDS1104X-E etc. have been out and patched for years...

[Neutrion]

Let's hope that the "All measurements" table does not cover half of the screen now. I would also prefer some kind of shadow or outline of the text, or maybe just a darker tone of the same color, but its nice that they are starting  to adress the problem.

[jan28]

Does anybody know if there are SCPI commands for setting the label names with the new firmware?

Setting names via the multi function knob is very inconvenient. Seems the SCPI manual is not updated yet.

Thanks in advance.

[1audio]

RE Oscillofun- Is there a Z Axis (blanking) input I don't see on the scope?

[tautech]

RE Oscillofun- Is there a Z Axis (blanking) input I don't see on the scope?

No. Just X-Y.

[tautech]

RE Oscillofun- Is there a Z Axis (blanking) input I don't see on the scope?

No. Just X-Y.

Then I had a thought to check this one and the interesting effect done with a tad of display persistence.

[1audio]

I was hoping for a way to connect some vintage Tek plugins that need blanking to be useful. I'll keep looking. Variable persistence is clever but not exploitable in this application.

[Neutrion]

Let's hope that the "All measurements" table does not cover half of the screen now. I would also prefer some kind of shadow or outline of the text, or maybe just a darker tone of the same color, but its nice that they are starting  to adress the problem.

I just would like to clarify this comment of mine. So it is not the space it takes would be the problem with "all measurements" but if the background would not be visible, like in the case of the small measurements window, which was posted by Rooster Cogburn. That would mae that window almost unusable compared to the current case.

[blurpy]

Let's hope that the "All measurements" table does not cover half of the screen now. I would also prefer some kind of shadow or outline of the text, or maybe just a darker tone of the same color, but its nice that they are starting  to adress the problem.

I just would like to clarify this comment of mine. So it is not the space it takes would be the problem with "all measurements" but if the background would not be visible, like in the case of the small measurements window, which was posted by Rooster Cogburn. That would mae that window almost unusable compared to the current case.

Here is an example.

[bdunham7]

I was hoping for a way to connect some vintage Tek plugins that need blanking to be useful. I'll keep looking. Variable persistence is clever but not exploitable in this application.

That's an interesting idea, old plug-ins with a DSO.  Blanking was an integral part of the basic operation of a CRO, so adding external blanking was fairly easy.  DSOs work entirely differently, of course, and I've never seen blanking on one.  However, with a bit of clever firmware, it would seem not too difficult to implement blanking using another channel (or even EXT) as the blanking input and then define it as a MATH function--CH1 blanked by CH2 according to some formula that could be selectable or enterable.  There might even be a clever way to do it now using existing MATH functions to move the signal off-screen for blanking.

[2N3055]

I was hoping for a way to connect some vintage Tek plugins that need blanking to be useful. I'll keep looking. Variable persistence is clever but not exploitable in this application.

That's an interesting idea, old plug-ins with a DSO.  Blanking was an integral part of the basic operation of a CRO, so adding external blanking was fairly easy.  DSOs work entirely differently, of course, and I've never seen blanking on one.  However, with a bit of clever firmware, it would seem not too difficult to implement blanking using another channel (or even EXT) as the blanking input and then define it as a MATH function--CH1 blanked by CH2 according to some formula that could be selectable or enterable.  There might even be a clever way to do it now using existing MATH functions to move the signal off-screen for blanking.

There are some that have blanking. MSOX3000T has it but as a logic function, (ON/OFF) not analog.... Still useful for blanking, just not for full analog modulation of trace..

[bdunham7]

There are some that have blanking. MSOX3000T has it but as a logic function, (ON/OFF) not analog.... Still useful for blanking, just not for full analog modulation of trace..

What input does it use to blank and is the threshold variable?

[1audio]

I have an extensive collection of Tek 7K plugins and some would be useful. In particular I have a Wavetek FFT that has proved very useful and the sampling plugins would make sense but would need the blanking/sync to be useful. Otherwise maybe that FNISRI thing could be hacked to act as a display. I think the Wavetek is a raster output which could work with a number of PC displays. Not so simple with the samplers.

[2N3055]

There are some that have blanking. MSOX3000T has it but as a logic function, (ON/OFF) not analog.... Still useful for blanking, just not for full analog modulation of trace..

What input does it use to blank and is the threshold variable?

MANUAL:

 Z-Axis Input in XY Display Mode (Blanking)
When you select the XY display mode, the time base is turned off. Channel 1 is the X-axis
input, channel 2 is the Y-axis input, and the EXT TRIG IN is the Z-axis input. If you only want to
see portions of the Y versus X display, use the Z-axis input. Z-axis turns the trace on and off
(analog oscilloscopes called this Z-axis blanking because it turned the beam on and off).
When Z is low (<1.4 V), Y versus X is displayed; when Z is high (>1.4 V), the trace is turned off.

[bdunham7]

Z-Axis Input in XY Display Mode (Blanking)
When you select the XY display mode, the time base is turned off. Channel 1 is the X-axis
input, channel 2 is the Y-axis input, and the EXT TRIG IN is the Z-axis input. If you only want to
see portions of the Y versus X display, use the Z-axis input. Z-axis turns the trace on and off
(analog oscilloscopes called this Z-axis blanking because it turned the beam on and off).
When Z is low (<1.4 V), Y versus X is displayed; when Z is high (>1.4 V), the trace is turned off.

Hello, Siglent?  Are you reading that?   

[2N3055]

Z-Axis Input in XY Display Mode (Blanking)
When you select the XY display mode, the time base is turned off. Channel 1 is the X-axis
input, channel 2 is the Y-axis input, and the EXT TRIG IN is the Z-axis input. If you only want to
see portions of the Y versus X display, use the Z-axis input. Z-axis turns the trace on and off
(analog oscilloscopes called this Z-axis blanking because it turned the beam on and off).
When Z is low (<1.4 V), Y versus X is displayed; when Z is high (>1.4 V), the trace is turned off.

Hello, Siglent?  Are you reading that?   

Why? it is very rare and mostly useless thing these days, and you expect that it is reasonable that we compare feature set of 12000 USD and 500 USD scope...
While on that page, 500 USD Siglent has Color grading mode and 12 kUSD 3000T doesn't. That one would be useful too me, in fact. Hello Keysight, are you reading this ...

[bdunham7]

Why? it is very rare and mostly useless thing these days, and you expect that it is reasonable that we compare feature set of 12000 USD and 500 USD scope...
While on that page, 500 USD Siglent has Color grading mode and 12 kUSD 3000T doesn't. That one would be useful too me, in fact. Hello Keysight, are you reading this ...

It's not a criticism of Siglent this time.  There's no question about which scope I will (and have) personally buy, but if they can add some features that's all the better.  And Siglent appears to respond and add things--like the very handy measurement logging that they just added to mine.  Nothing wrong with suggesting and motivating them to add some more stuff.  Yes, there's already lots of stuff, but I'm greedy.

[tautech]

Nothing wrong with suggesting and motivating them to add some more stuff.  Yes, there's already lots of stuff, but I'm greedy.

Make a list and provide a valid use case.

[Neutrion]

Let's hope that the "All measurements" table does not cover half of the screen now. I would also prefer some kind of shadow or outline of the text, or maybe just a darker tone of the same color, but its nice that they are starting  to adress the problem.

I just would like to clarify this comment of mine. So it is not the space it takes would be the problem with "all measurements" but if the background would not be visible, like in the case of the small measurements window, which was posted by Rooster Cogburn. That would mae that window almost unusable compared to the current case.

Here is an example.

Thanks Blurpy! At least it did not get worse. Hoping to get those shadows or similar styling added to the letters.

[SHF]

new firmware 6.1.37R8 

1.   Fixed  the  problem:  very  few  SDS1xx4X-e  stuck  at  self-calibration
2.   Be Compatible with a new VGA chip

https://int.siglent.com/download/firmwares/?ProId=12

[C.J.S.]

new firmware 6.1.37R8

Thanks for this notification.

Just for information, after performing the firmware update to 6.1.37R8 I needed to re-enable WiFi (re-enter SSID and PSK for connection to local WiFi network) and NTP Power On Sync.
After doing this my SDS1104X-E is running fine again. For completeness I also performed a new Self Calibration.

[SMB784]

I've might have discovered a bug, maybe someone can duplicate.  Whenever I have a USB drive plugged in (in this case, a 32GB thumb drive), my USB wifi module isn't recognized on boot, and the system locks up when I hit WiFi Set in the Utility->I/O submenu.

[C.J.S.]

@SMB784, I cannot exactly duplicate what you describe, but I do experience problems with making a reliable WiFi connection between my SDS1104X-E scope and my WiFi access point.

I have my USB Wifi module (TP-Link TL_WN725N) plugged into the USB port at the backside of my SDS1104X-E scope. In my experience the WiFi module is always detected after bootup, with or without USB drive plugged into the front USB port. But often detection of the Wifi module does not result in a reliable Wifi connection. Many times after boot up with Wifi module plugged in and detected by the the scope, I cannot access the web interface of the scope at the IP address of the Wifi module. When this happens I can repair the Wifi connection by switching Off and On WiFi and hit the Connect button in menu Utility => I/O => WiFi Set. Sometimes multiple attempts are needed to get a working WiFi connection, and the only way to find out if the WiFi connection is working is to check if the scope's web interface can be accessed on the IP address of the WiFi module. Once the WiFi connection is working the connection remains stable as long as the scope stays powered on.

To summarize, in my experience the scope most of the times does not establish a reliable WiFi connection with my WiFi router after boot up. When this happens I can make a working WiFi connection by switching Off/On WiFi and hit the Connect button in the Utility => I/O => WiFi Set menu. Many times multiple attempts are needed before a working WiFi connection is established. It could be that the occurrence of this problem depends on the WiFi Access Point (WiFi router) that is used.

There is certainly room for improvement wrt the reliability of the WiFi connection.

(EDIT: added more details about WiFi connection problems)