Tektronix 6-Series 4-Channel 25GS/s 8GHz MSO Review, Teardown & Experiments (I)

[Hugoneus]

In this episode Shahriar reviews the top-of-the-line Tektronix 6-Series Oscilloscope.

This 4-channel instrument offers 8-GHz of bandwidth at 25GS/s on all channel independently. Tektronix has made great strides in offering low-noise front-end custom ASICs combined with hardware digital down-conversion built into the core of the 6-Series. This enables advanced triggering across in both time and frequency domains as well as multi-domain correlated measurements.
This review is organized as follows:

00:06 – Introductions
01:42 – Instrument design, front and back panels
03:34 – Full acquisition board teardown, analysis and architecture
18:11 – PLL Experiment: Spectrum View, advanced triggering, PLL characterization and debugging
38:33 – Backplane Communication: Jitter analysis, eye diagrams, jitter composition, cross-talk
49:24 – Concluding remarks

You can watch the video here: [50 Minutes]
youtu.be/8WNuGUQStq8

The Signal Path
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[rsjsouza]

Shahriar, I can't wait to watch it. I did a test drive on the MDO3 and 4 series and was very underwhelmed by their very poor UI performance. Hopefully the "6" series performs better.

[Hugoneus]

Shahriar, I can't wait to watch it. I did a test drive on the MDO3 and 4 series and was very underwhelmed by their very poor UI performance. Hopefully the "6" series performs better.

The new 4, 5 and 6 series performances are in a whole other league.

[Sighound36]

I would suggest unless they have made some serious improvident to the UI and other items on 6 series since March this year then you maybe still disappointed.

Was seriously underwhelmed by this scope both the Lecroy Wavepro and now the Keysight MXR are altogether a much better propositions imho.  Pricing on this scope is very interesting as well.

As with all of these quality range scopes, in the flesh demonstrations is essential for a least 10 days if possible, if you can try and arrange a back to back demo with one of the others its quite illuminating.

Personally paid for my R&D scope so long term research and demo's are critical took around four months before settling.

Possible Shahriar with all his industry contacts could perform a head to head test session with the say the Tek 6 series MXR Keysight I would eagerly watch that review. Given the MXR ability and pricing, Tek and others have a big shake up coming.

[0culus]

Shahriar, I can't wait to watch it. I did a test drive on the MDO3 and 4 series and was very underwhelmed by their very poor UI performance. Hopefully the "6" series performs better.

The new 4, 5 and 6 series performances are in a whole other league.

Considering how bloody expensive the 3 series is when optioned, this is rather sad to hear. Makes me even less likely to purchase one, even though their salespeople won't leave me a lone now. 

[Hugoneus]

A few general comments:

I have reviewed the original MDO, the new 5-series and 6-series. The new instruments are obviously a huge leap forward in every aspect. The built-in DDC is a great tool which I have found myself using fairly often.

There is more than 3 hours of testing and review available for the 5-series and 6-series on my channel alone. You can watch and make your own conclusions. My aim is to show the instrument strengths and weaknesses for all vendors as I have done for Tektronix, Keithley, Keysight, R&S, Siglent, Rigol, Signal Hound, LeCroy and others across many different types of instruments and classes.

I will also review the MXR which I am very eager to put to the test. 

[rsjsouza]

Shahriar, I can't wait to watch it. I did a test drive on the MDO3 and 4 series and was very underwhelmed by their very poor UI performance. Hopefully the "6" series performs better.

The new 4, 5 and 6 series performances are in a whole other league.

Considering how bloody expensive the 3 series is when optioned, this is rather sad to hear. Makes me even less likely to purchase one, even though their salespeople won't leave me a lone now. 

At the time when I played with it, the sales person told me it was cheaper to get the MSO4 instead of the MDO3 with the options I needed.

Shahriar, I apologize. I meant having done a test drive on both the MDO3 and the MSO4 and I was underwhelmed by both. This was in February. Although I haven't finished watching your video, I can tell that what you show is much more responsive.

[0culus]

Shahriar, I can't wait to watch it. I did a test drive on the MDO3 and 4 series and was very underwhelmed by their very poor UI performance. Hopefully the "6" series performs better.

The new 4, 5 and 6 series performances are in a whole other league.

Considering how bloody expensive the 3 series is when optioned, this is rather sad to hear. Makes me even less likely to purchase one, even though their salespeople won't leave me a lone now. 

At the time when I played with it, the sales person told me it was cheaper to get the MSO4 instead of the MDO3 with the options I needed.

snip

Wow. The thing that rubbed me the wrong way is that they advertised the 3 series as the budget option of the bunch...and it really is anything but once you start adding the options you need. I note now that they are giving away the spectrum analyzer for free, as well as free probes with the 1 GHz version. Even with that, it's still way too much money to justify for my hobby lab. I realize that hobbyists aren't their target audience but this pricing structure also makes me reluctant to consider them for work purchases either.

[Mechatrommer]

Even with that, it's still way too much money to justify for my hobby lab. I realize that hobbyists aren't their target audience but this pricing structure also makes me reluctant to consider them for work purchases either.

for hobby, its far from dream.. except if you can afford 2 houses from your main job. the 1GHz mso3 i checked yesterday is the price of a car.. hobbiests closest hope for 20GSps realtime class is used Lecroy 3-6GHz.. used Tek price is still nasty. the caveat of the old model, it may not be up on par at looking modern, intermittent and fancy signals. But what do you expect for hobby job?

[snoopy]

I liked this review and tear down. It explain a lot about some of the capabilities of this instrument. Shows you that Tektronix is still one of the top-end scope manufacturers

Look forward to Part 2 and the review of the Keysight MXR as a comparison

[0culus]

Even with that, it's still way too much money to justify for my hobby lab. I realize that hobbyists aren't their target audience but this pricing structure also makes me reluctant to consider them for work purchases either.

for hobby, its far from dream.. except if you can afford 2 houses from your main job. the 1GHz mso3 i checked yesterday is the price of a car.. hobbiests closest hope for 20GSps realtime class is used Lecroy 3-6GHz.. used Tek price is still nasty. the caveat of the old model, it may not be up on par at looking modern, intermittent and fancy signals. But what do you expect for hobby job?

Well yeah, I only buy older stuff for my own use precisely because I can get it dirt cheap in comparison to the new purchase price.  Certainly, the 5 and 6 series look pretty nice for the professional lab. The 3 series is way overpriced for what it is, IMO. YMMV.

[moore]

Incredible video as always, so much detail.  The title says this is part 1.  Is there a part 2?  Thx.

[surgewave]

I have also tried the Tektronix Series 3. Its a disappointment.
Display driver is really slow, and FFT has hardly any functions available, not even "next peak" which should be the norm.
Tektronix Series 3 Memory size is nice and useful but 10Mpts is not that special anymore... Competitors have better options for the price if you are after the memory size. I guess series 6 would be better... but you will get so much more with other brands for the same money.