Tektronix Mixed Domain Oscilloscope MDO4000 Review - EEVblog #199

In another world exclusive, Dave reviews Tektronix's new Mixed Domain Oscilloscope, the MDO4000 series that is released TODAY.
Does it live up to the hype of changing the oscilloscope landscape and creating a new oscilloscope category?
Also, it is a review of the MSO4000 series Mixed Signal Oscilloscope. How does that compare to the Agilent X Series?
See PART 2 for the teardown!

[HaydenHatTrick]

I thought you were complaining about a lot of petty useless stuff.... but then I realized your one of the few reviewers that actually tell us everything so we the viewers can decide what is good. With something of this cost, good on you for it too. Great review

[bavarianmonkey]

Actually Tektronix has been building mixed domain oscilloscopes since the 60s.

There are spectrum analyzer plug ins for the 500 series. Take a 556 (dual beam dual plug in scope), plug in an 1A4 (Y amplifier) and a 1L4 (4.2 GHz spectrum analyzer) and you have a fully independant spectrum analyzer AND time domain oscilloscope.

In the 70s the 7000 series offered even more. :-)

Obviously you cannot FFT certain points/areas in the time domain signal with those old devices but...hey, they have moved on since then.

[stergeon]

Oh man I sympathize with these nitpicks! I use the MDO 3000 series regularly at my university. The interface is cramped, badly laid out, but powerful. My biggest complaint is the lack of indents in the multipurpose (a, b) knobs. Selecting measurements from long lists get tedious as you undershoot and overshoot the desired menu item. The lack of trigger input also shocked me at an instrument of this price. With that said, If I could afford it I'd buy one of these in a heartbeat. Wonderful instruments.

[utoothheartyeight]

I've been out of the EE / CS work market since 2004. I hope the up and comers appreciate all the new instruments that are showing up on the market these days. I'm jealous. I still dabble around as a hobby but unfortunately can't afford the new stuff. In the '70s, I visited my senior VP to get a signature for a spectrum analyzer. He nearly fell off his chair at the price and said, "in my day I designed portable transceivers with a senior volt ohmist and a screw driver. I responded, "well, you never want to look at your work with today's equipment and see how "dirty" the result was. And by the way, you haven't seen anything yet."

[markw.]

Holy crap, can't believe you dropped that scope at the end of the video. NICE!!

[jasaggio]

HAHAHA! Dave the meeting part about the Waveinspector is brilliant...so true

[billybbob]

Dave, the 4 screw holes on the back of the case could be a vesa mount. The same used in monitor stands. That might go perfectly with my Ergotron mount.

[erikhovdahl]

1. Plug the dual USB A connectors from
one end of the “T” USB cable, which
comes with your board, into two USB
ports of a PC or an oscilloscope. Do
this before plugging the single USB B
connector from the other end of the USB
cable into the MDO Demo 1 board.
You need to attach both USB A
connectors to provide adequate power
to the demo board.
2. Plug the single B connector from the
other end of the USB cable into the demo
board. Two green and one red LEDs
on the board turn on and remain steady
when you apply adequate power to the
board.
If you plug the single B connector to the
demo board when there is just one of the
two USB A connectors attached to the
PC or oscilloscope, you may cause an
over-current (>500 mA) condition. This
can generate an error message.
3. Connect the MDO4000 Series
oscilloscope RF input to the MDO Demo
1 Board RF output using the N-to-BNC
Adapter (103–0045–00) and a 50 Ω coax BNC..

[erflb]

The MDO4104C-6 is my consume dream!
<3

[criscros]

Great video, as always.

(Not that it would matter a lot, but did you give both the review and the teardown video the same number (199) on purpose?)

[caelitis]

It was of course not a joke. Drop tests are relevant parts of Dave's reviews, since these devices may be used in rather harsh environments. Drop tests - someone's gotta do them!

[jaak]

@DanF With most RF signals being digital these days, dropping to an analog AM or FM demodulation isn't as useful as it used to be. for those that would use it that way daily, they are unlikely to need a scope and logic analyzer so a spectrum analyzer is still first choice in that instance.

But if you do need all three instruments, you can't beat the price and integration!

For EMI, I heard that a quasi peak detector and CSPR filters are in the future... Imagine, design, debugging and EMI pre

[DarkFire]

Very, very impressive piece of equipment. Then I looked up the price. Oh. Oh dear. WOn't be buying one of them any time soon - the top model comes in at nearly £15, 000 :-(

[MandolinMan]

Love the drop test Dave, quality! Great Craic xD

[RandyLott]

@oscopeman Yes sir. As an Electrical Engineer; in lab at college, there was interference due to fluorescent lights at 60Hz and it's harmonics.

[EEVblog]

@criscros7 Yeah, they were going to be 199 and 201, with a special 200th episode in between, but the 200th video isn't done yet. So 199 Part 1 and Part 2 it is!

[EEVblog]

@HaydenHatTrick BINGO! Someone who understands my review technique, thanks!

[toxanbi]

This is what all us want to find under the Christmas tree :)

[flapjackboy]

Screwholes on the back are for an ISO standard wall/swingarm mount plate.

[mw]

What do we do with our tiny but expensive components with a clearly marked ESD warning? Put them on a post-it note and wiggle them around of course..
My guess is that these DaveCAD (tm) ' files' are dissipative, so no worries! :D