The weird and funny DSO - Metrix MTX3000 series and others

[Hydrawerk]

http://www.chauvin-arnoux.com/display.asp?8785
http://www.chauvin-arnoux.com/produit/Famille_detail.asp?idFam=2008&idPole=1
Specs:
5.7" monochrome or colour LCD (115 x 86 mm) with 320 x 240 pixels
Max. sampling rate:Repetitive = 100 GS/s, One-shot = 200 MS/s
Memory depth 50,000 points
Acquisition rate: 50k  waveform/s max. per channel (Quite good)



What do you think about this crazy blue oscilloscope? It is still quite expensive... Well, it was designed probably in 2007, but I don't know, why anybody would buy that...

[Hydrawerk]

picture 01

[chickenHeadKnob]

It needs more plastic molding, also some stickers of flying pigs and other animals that small children like.

[jancumps]

It's got differential inputs out of the box.

[mikeselectricstuff]

They make some quite nice looking portable scopes, inclusing a 200MHz/2.5GS/s 4-channel, and some with isolated channels,.
http://www.chauvin-arnoux.com/produit/Famille_detail.asp?idFam=2048&idPole=1
Ridiculously expensive though :
http://uk.farnell.com/metrix/ox7204-csd/oscilloscope-digital-4x200mhz-sd/dp/1735173

[PedroDaGr8]

This almost looks like it was designed for a chemistry lab. There must be some rogue industrial designer out there making the rounds to design this crap. I would say maybe its designed for a GMP environment but wtf would someone in GMP need an oscilloscope for (and not a more automated system).

[PA4TIM]

Makes me think where to put the coins to get gummballs out of it 

It looks like it is for automotive use like this thing I saw in England:

[Hydrawerk]

Finally I found the price...  http://uk.farnell.com/metrix/mtx3352be-c/oscilloscope-2x100mhz/dp/1615414
Unit Price: £1,477.74   
Compared to
http://uk.farnell.com/agilent-technologies/dsox2012a/oscilloscope-2-channel-100mhz/dp/1859765
Unit Price: £1,072.10 
Well, the Metrix is probably made in France and controlled by PC mouse, but that is not a big advantage...

[zlabsoft]

Anyway, it create a class by its own.

[jancumps]

...
Well, the Metrix is probably made in France and controlled by PC mouse, but that is not a big advantage...

The Metrix meter I have at home is made in Switzerland.

[Wuerstchenhund]

Well, the Metrix is probably made in France and controlled by PC mouse, but that is not a big advantage...

If I remember right tese Metrix scopes came out around 2007 and haven't been updated since. The price is ridiculous but Chauvin Arnoux does still sell a few of them to customers that buy French no matter what.

[Hydrawerk]

It reminds me the computer-like oscilloscopes made by HP in late 80s... This design was probably not much succesful and later they returned to traditional design with many encoder knobs. 54600 series

[Wuerstchenhund]

It reminds me the computer-like oscilloscopes made by HP in late 80s... This design was probably not much succesful and later they returned to traditional design with many encoder knobs.

I guess you're talking about the first gen HP 54500 series. Great scopes. I still have a 54510A (2Ch 250MHz 1GSa/s on each channel, 8k memory) as a secondary scope. The single dial button system takes a bit getting used to but after that I think it's good. Most parameters can also be keyed in via the keypad which at least for me is much quicker than turning a know.

The only thing I miss is FFT (was available via a firmware update which is now hard to find).

I'd take the 54510A over a new 300Mhz 2Ch Rigol, Hantek, Siglent and similar cheap brands any day.

[Achilles]

Well......french.......
Metrix is really into this folding design. I had seen the scope before, but I don't get the benefits of the strange design. It may protect the Display, but it isn't really what I consider compact. As far as I remember they advertise it as portable scope. A bit lower and a lid to protect the inputs and it could be a bit better. Otherwise I would prefer the Fluke next to it in terms of portability or just a bag for a lab-scope.
I guess they don't have large market share with that one.

Has anyone  a clue if you can play space-invaders on it? It really reminds me of an old arcade.

[T4P]

"Portable" As compared to what, a volcano?

[Hydrawerk]

In MTX3000 series there is a smart persistence function, but why on such a small resolution display??? 320×240 pixels...  Even the old TDS3000 had VGA display (640×480 pixels.) But TDS3000 was introduced in 1998, or so...

[Hydrawerk]

In Soviet Russia, they have the biggest oscilloscopes ever. ?: ??.

[Hydrawerk]

Funny LeCroy WavePro scope that I saw on the Amper trade fair. www.amper.cz
It has a detachable front panel.

[Hydrawerk]

The detachable front panel can be connected via mini USB connector. I would expect a more solid industrial connector instead. Mayble RS-232 with screws would be fine. But why not to use PC to remote control my scope...

[c4757p]

In Soviet Russia, they have the biggest oscilloscopes ever.

I like that - nice for teaching.

[Hydrawerk]

When talking about strange oscilloscopes, does somebody use scopes made by Tesla in Czechoslovakia? I mean people living in developed western countries like Australia, USA, Germany, France, or so...
This BM566A beast was in production in the late 1980s. It has quite small screen. The scope is full of steel, so it has weight of 30 kilograms or so. It has no cursors, readouts, or anything advanced.

[Hydrawerk]

Hitachi in Japan produced much better scopes in the late 1980s. This 4-channel machine is about 10kg and bandwidth is 150MHz. I found it at school. It has no autoset button, but there are cursors and readouts. Maybe you have already seen those videos.

Pictures: https://plus.google.com/photos/106264218831814439783/albums/5844454688694290849

[nctnico]

Look at this Tektronix scope with a detachable operator panel:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tektronix-RTD720-A-4Ch-Digital-Real-Time-Oscilloscope-Digitizer-Waveform-AC-DC-/151031302722

Oh, and the specs look great at first glance but since this scope only has 50 Ohm inputs, is very heavy and very noisy it is not suitable as a general purpose oscilloscope.

[dimlow]

They make some quite nice looking portable scopes, inclusing a 200MHz/2.5GS/s 4-channel, and some with isolated channels,.
http://www.chauvin-arnoux.com/produit/Famille_detail.asp?idFam=2048&idPole=1
Ridiculously expensive though :
http://uk.farnell.com/metrix/ox7204-csd/oscilloscope-digital-4x200mhz-sd/dp/1735173

Not so expencive here http://www.tester.co.uk/chauvin-arnoux-ox7204-csd-oscilloscope-m-meter-colour

But every image of the screen i have seen of these are in french!

[vk6zgo]

When talking about strange oscilloscopes, does somebody use scopes made by Tesla in Czechoslovakia? I mean people living in developed western countries like Australia, USA, Germany, France, or so...
This BM566A beast was in production in the late 1980s. It has quite small screen. The scope is full of steel, so it has weight of 30 kilograms or so. It has no cursors, readouts, or anything advanced.

There were still quite a few Oscilloscopes being made in the 1980s without cursors & readouts---they're only for wimps,anyhow!

It apparently has delayed timebase,though,as there is a "fine delay" control,unless it is for something else.

A lot of JVCs,Philips,BWD,etc from the early '80s were similar,though the BWDs usually had a bigger display.

[Bored@Work]

When talking about strange oscilloscopes, does somebody use scopes made by Tesla in Czechoslovakia? I mean people living in developed western countries like Australia, USA, Germany, France, or so...
This BM566A beast was in production in the late 1980s. It has quite small screen. The scope is full of steel, so it has weight of 30 kilograms or so. It has no cursors, readouts, or anything advanced.

No, the only oscilloscope from behind the iron curtain that I can remember to have occasionally seen in the West in the old days was the C1-94. It was marked Made in CCCP, so it was easy to identify. It was not exactly a triumph of superior communist workmanship. It was barely an oscilloscope and had a reputation of not having proper radiation shielding.

That doesn't mean there couldn't have been others. Maybe western companies were rebranding some from eastern Europe, as it was so common with consumer electronics and other goods. But I don't remember having seen such an oscilloscope.

[Hydrawerk]

Yes, the C1-94 scope is still popular in Czech Republic, but I am never gonna buy any.

[Hydrawerk]

I have found another weird oscilloscope. It's a digital scope Nicolet 460 100MHz 200MSa/s made in USA maybe in 1990. The whole unit is very large. 

[Hydrawerk]

More photos from http://imgur.com/a/MCB1c/embed#6

[Hydrawerk]

Have you ever seen these scopes Iwatsu Bringo made maybe in early 2000s?

[Hydrawerk]

A nice scope. When was it made? Late 1990s? Why is there no PC connection? No RS-232, USB, floppy disc, GPIB or anything? Just that video output.

[bingo600]

I have an Iwatsu ds-8608a
Both analog & digital w. gpib.

Don't use it much after i got my TDS-320 , but it's my last analog.

Don't use my TDS-320 much, after i got my Rigol DS1102E

/Bingo

[echen1024]

I have seen one of those large Nicolet scopes at my local surplus store (EPO Houston) Poor selection, expensive.

[nctnico]

I know very little about it, I just want it :-)

I'm not sure it is a good buy though. It is a scan converter scope which uses an analog storage tube which is then digitized. It doesn't have any memory beyond the screen.

[bingo600]

I have an Iwatsu ds-8608a
Both analog & digital w. gpib.

What is your opinion of it? Worth getting?

It's an ok scope , but i'd get a TEK analog or a Rigol digital.
If i should get one today.

/Bingo

[Hydrawerk]

Another strange scope made by Metrix in early 2000s. It has SMART AUTOSET  but no rotary encoders. And it works in a really strange way.

4.1. AUTOSET
• AUTOSET/ABORT light On: when the User presses on the AUTOSET key (4), the oscilloscope
searches for the vertical sensitivity, the horizontal sweep speed and trigger conditions that will
display the signals present at the CH1 and CH2 inputs.
NOTE: If there is no signal, the oscilloscope will keep the ranges indicated by the manual vertical
sensitivity switches (5) - (11) and the timebase switch (15).
• AUTOSET/ABORT indicator flashes: the AUTOSET light flashes if the ranges found by
AUTOSET are not the same as the ranges indicated by the sensitivity and timebase switches.
The ranges found by AUTOSET can be found by turning switches (5) (11) and (15) in the direction
shown by the corresponding blue arrows closest to the two illuminated coupling or source lights.
The corresponding two lights go OFF when the manual sensitivity or timebase switch changes
to the position found by AUTOSET. The AUTOSET/ABORT light goes OFF when all AUTOSET
positions have been found.

[Hydrawerk]

Metrix OX-530 user manual is here. See the page 18.

[coppice]

It reminds me the computer-like oscilloscopes made by HP in late 80s... This design was probably not much succesful and later they returned to traditional design with many encoder knobs.

I guess you're talking about the first gen HP 54500 series. Great scopes. I still have a 54510A (2Ch 250MHz 1GSa/s on each channel, 8k memory) as a secondary scope. The single dial button system takes a bit getting used to but after that I think it's good. Most parameters can also be keyed in via the keypad which at least for me is much quicker than turning a know.

I suspect he is referring to the first generation of HP non-sampling oscilloscopes, which were in a case very similar to the HP 1611A logic analyser in this picture. They really looked like a small computer of the day. It was a 2 channel 6 bit 200M sample/second/channel machine. I can't find anything about them on the web now, but they were very popular among the engineers I knew. Mostly because it was the first time you could end a storage oscilloscope's capture on a trigger event. I can't remember the model number, but I think it should be in the 54xxx range.

[elCap]

I think the Iwatsu DS-6121 have a very strange user interface. It was probably considered the coolest thing on a digital scope, the future of interfaces.. 
But CRT is controlled by old style knobs, same type as Iwatsu used on many of their earlier scopes.

Check it out here: http://www.grandpas-shack.com/parts/image/DS-6121A(IWATSU)UN_panel2.jpg

[coppice]

I think the Iwatsu DS-6121 have a very strange user interface. It was probably considered the coolest thing on a digital scope, the future of interfaces.. 
But CRT is controlled by old style knobs, same type as Iwatsu used on many of their earlier scopes.

Check it out here: http://www.grandpas-shack.com/parts/image/DS-6121A(IWATSU)UN_panel2.jpg

It was clearly designed for use in kitchens, with that wipe clean front. Maybe it was for the kitchen table hobbyist.

[Hydrawerk]

I suspect he is referring to the first generation of HP non-sampling oscilloscopes, which were in a case very similar to the HP 1611A logic analyser in this picture. They really looked like a small computer of the day. It was a 2 channel 6 bit 200M sample/second/channel machine. I can't find anything about them on the web now, but they were very popular among the engineers I knew. Mostly because it was the first time you could end a storage oscilloscope's capture on a trigger event. I can't remember the model number, but I think it should be in the 54xxx range.

Well, I have never heard of them. But they are interesting anyway.

[Hydrawerk]

Well, membrane keyboards used to be popular in 1980s. But everyone prefers 3D front panel as on most today's scopes.
Later Iwatsu returned to this traditional design. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/the-most-weird-and-funny-dso-metrix-mtx3000/?action=dlattach;attach=88853;image

[shakalnokturn]

I spotted this one today, remembered the topic and figured it belonged here if anywhere.