Not all oscilloscopes are created equally - especially their displays. Ideally the scope will compact an entire sweep of memory onto a single sweep using a min/max algorithm. The benefit is that we don't have to pan thru screens of scope data to see the interesting details in our data. Min/max compaction makes variations obvious so we can zoom into just the regions of interest.
Ideally, the screen will be large enough so that we can see the waveforms measurements clearly at the same time. Some models even eliminate the menus for a full screen display. Some models have small diagonal measurement displays that put measurements on top of the waveform data.
Newest lab bench scope designs have 15" displays.
Oscilloscope displays are typically specified in terms of resolution and diagonal size. The higher the resolution, the easier it will be to see fine details and the better our publications that have imported oscilloscope screens will appear.
Ideally, we should have the ability to expand or zoom in on different parts of our waveforms to see details more clearly and to limit our measurements to within a given region of data.
The graticule or "grid" should be done in software and allow multiple traces to be displayed, each within their own grid. This preserves the full scale voltage input ranges for best accuracy. Multiple zooms are best.
Ideally, the scope display should have a report generator so that the entire setup of the
oscilloscope can be observed, verified, replicated, and printed.
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