Video: The Many Varieties of Oscilloscope Probes

Got a minute (OK, a minute and a half)? Take a look at this quick tutorial video that takes you through the four basic types of probes and what they're used for:

If this little thumbnail sketch whetted your appetite for more info on oscilloscope probes, we've got you covered with a series of popular blog posts on the topic:

The Realities of Oscilloscope Probes

Back to Basics: Probes (Part I)

Back to Basics: Probes (Part II)

Back to Basics: Probes (Part III)

Back to Basics: Probes (Part IV)

Understanding Probe Calibration Methods

Understanding Probe Calibration Methods (Part II)

The Effects of Passive Probe Ground Leads

Go Back to School on Signal Integrity

No matter how much we might think we know about signal integrity, there's always more to learn. The laws of physics never change but we might come across new scenarios in which to apply them. Circuits with higher levels of functionality are constantly being squeezed into smaller, more portable spaces; the closer together we pack active components and transmission lines, the more acute their sensitivity is to electromagnetic energy. Everything's either a transmitter or a receiver in some sense and everything has effects on other components, intended or otherwise.

Video: WaveSurfer 3000 and the MAUI User Interface

Oscilloscopes are often an engineer's best friend, but that can change depending on how easy or difficult a given instrument is to use. Sure, the oscilloscope's capabilities and technical specs are critical, but if the machine is difficult or non-intuitive to interact with, the user ends up wasting time figuring out what should be simple.

Video: Vertical Controls on the HDO Oscilloscopes

Here's another in our continuing series of tutorial videos. This time, we'll review the use of the vertical controls on a Teledyne LeCroy HDO oscilloscope. These controls facilitate positioning and scaling of waveforms vertically on the oscilloscope's display. Note that although we're demonstrating these controls on an HDO, you'd be rather hard pressed to find an oscilloscope from any manufacturer without a volts/div and vertical offset control. Thus, this video is applicable to whatever oscilloscope you have on your bench.

There are quite a few tutorial videos for a broad range of Teledyne LeCroy products on our YouTube channel. Head on over whenever you need a refresher!

Oscilloscope Basics: How to Set Up and Use Cursors

As a follow-up to a recent post with an oscilloscope front-panel tour, we want to dig a little deeper into one aspect of controlling the instrument, and that's how to set up and use cursors. But instead of describing it in prose, it makes more sense to show you. So enjoy this brief tutorial video that will get you started with cursors! We're demonstrating on a Teledyne LeCroy HDO4054, but most of what we're showing you translates to other manufacturer's instruments.