Digital storage oscilloscope

It is now the most common type of oscilloscope in use because of the advanced trigger, storage, display and measurement features which it typically provides.

[2] Digital storage oscilloscope costs vary widely; bench-top self-contained instruments (complete with displays) start at US$300 or even less, with high-performance models selling for tens of thousands of dollars.

They may be used to capture transient signals when operated in a single sweep mode, without the brightness and writing speed limitations of an analog storage oscilloscope.

The "front end" circuits, consisting of input amplifiers and analog to digital converters, are packaged separately and communicate with the PC over USB, Ethernet, or other interfaces.

Displays may be larger, and acquired data can be easily transferred to PC hosted application software such as spread sheets.