Rigol DHO800 Waveform Examples
Scott Prahl
Mar 2026
[1]:
%config InlineBackend.figure_format = 'retina'
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import imageio.v3 as iio
from RigolWFM import Wfm, DHO1000_scopes
repo = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/scottprahl/RigolWFM/main/tests/files/"
DHO824 - Single-channel .wfm capture (CH1)
Oscilloscope screenshot
Capture taken with CH1 active, measuring a DC signal around 150 mV.
[2]:
filename = "wfm/DHO824-ch1.wfm"
w = Wfm.from_url(repo + filename, "DHO")
downloading 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/scottprahl/RigolWFM/main/tests/files/wfm/DHO824-ch1.wfm'
Textual description
[3]:
description = w.describe()
print(description)
General:
File Model = DHO800
User Model = DHO
Parser Model = dho1000
Firmware = unknown
Filename = DHO824-ch1.wfm
Channels = [1]
Trigger:
Derived Level (CH1) = 127.20 mV
Channel 1:
Coupling = unknown
Scale = 54.61 mV/div
Offset = 151.45 mV
Probe = 1X
Inverted = False
Time Base = 400.000 µs/div
Offset = 0.000 s
Delta = 400.000 ns/point
Points = 10000
Count = [ 1, 2, 3 ... 9999, 10000]
Raw = [ 113, 138, 157 ... 49, 82]
Times = [-2.000 ms,-2.000 ms,-1.999 ms ... 1.999 ms, 2.000 ms]
Volts = [127.55 mV,169.33 mV,201.53 mV ... 18.13 mV, 74.57 mV]
Plot the waveform
[4]:
ch = w.channels[0]
plt.plot(ch.times * 1e6, ch.volts * 1000, color="green")
plt.title("%s CH%d %.0f Sa/s" % (filename, ch.channel_number, 1 / ch.seconds_per_point))
plt.xlabel("Time (µs)")
plt.ylabel("Voltage (mV)")
plt.grid(True)
plt.show()
DHO824 - Single-channel .bin capture (CH1)
The .bin format stores calibrated float32 voltages directly. No additional scaling is required, and it is identical across all DHO variants.
[5]:
filename = "bin/DHO824-ch1.bin"
w = Wfm.from_url(repo + filename, "DHO")
print(w.describe())
downloading 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/scottprahl/RigolWFM/main/tests/files/bin/DHO824-ch1.bin'
General:
File Model = DHO800 (BIN)
User Model = DHO
Parser Model = dho1000
Firmware = unknown
Filename = DHO824-ch1.bin
Channels = [1]
Trigger:
Derived Level (CH1) = 127.20 mV
Channel 1:
Coupling = unknown
Scale = 1.00 V/div
Offset = 0.00 V
Probe = 1X
Inverted = False
Time Base = 400.000 µs/div
Offset = 0.000 s
Delta = 400.000 ns/point
Points = 10000
Count = [ 1, 2, 3 ... 9999, 10000]
Raw = [ 128, 128, 128 ... 128, 128]
Times = [-2.000 ms,-2.000 ms,-1.999 ms ... 1.999 ms, 2.000 ms]
Volts = [127.55 mV,169.33 mV,201.53 mV ... 18.13 mV, 74.57 mV]
[6]:
ch = w.channels[0]
plt.plot(ch.times * 1e6, ch.volts * 1000, color="green")
plt.title("%s CH%d" % (filename, ch.channel_number))
plt.xlabel("Time (µs)")
plt.ylabel("Voltage (mV)")
plt.grid(True)
plt.show()
DHO824 - Two-channel .bin capture (CH1 + CH2)
Oscilloscope screenshot
[7]:
filename = "bin/DHO824-ch12.bin"
w = Wfm.from_url(repo + filename, "DHO", selected="12")
colors = ["green", "red"]
active = [ch for ch in w.channels if ch.volts is not None]
fig, axes = plt.subplots(len(active), 1, sharex=True, figsize=(10, 4))
if len(active) == 1:
axes = [axes]
for ax, ch, color in zip(axes, active, colors):
ax.plot(ch.times * 1e6, ch.volts * 1000, color=color)
ax.set_ylabel("mV")
ax.set_title("CH%d" % ch.channel_number)
ax.grid(True)
axes[-1].set_xlabel("Time (µs)")
fig.suptitle(filename)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()
downloading 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/scottprahl/RigolWFM/main/tests/files/bin/DHO824-ch12.bin'
DHO824 - Four-channel .bin capture (CH1–CH4)
Oscilloscope screenshot
[8]:
filename = "bin/DHO824-ch1234.bin"
w = Wfm.from_url(repo + filename, "DHO", selected="1234")
colors = ["green", "red", "blue", "orange"]
active = [ch for ch in w.channels if ch.volts is not None]
n = len(active)
fig, axes = plt.subplots(n, 1, sharex=True, figsize=(10, 2.5 * n))
if n == 1:
axes = [axes]
for ax, ch, color in zip(axes, active, colors):
ax.plot(ch.times * 1e6, ch.volts * 1000, color=color)
ax.set_ylabel("mV")
ax.set_title("CH%d %.2f V/div" % (ch.channel_number, ch.volt_per_division))
ax.grid(True)
axes[-1].set_xlabel("Time (µs)")
fig.suptitle(filename)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()
downloading 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/scottprahl/RigolWFM/main/tests/files/bin/DHO824-ch1234.bin'
DHO824 - Four-channel .wfm capture (CH1–CH4)
The .wfm parser auto-detects the DHO800 format and deinterleaves the channel data.
[9]:
filename = "wfm/DHO824-ch1234.wfm"
w = Wfm.from_url(repo + filename, "DHO", selected="1234")
colors = ["green", "red", "blue", "orange"]
active = [ch for ch in w.channels if ch.volts is not None]
n = len(active)
fig, axes = plt.subplots(n, 1, sharex=True, figsize=(10, 2.5 * n))
if n == 1:
axes = [axes]
for ax, ch, color in zip(axes, active, colors):
ax.plot(ch.times * 1e6, ch.volts * 1000, color=color)
ax.set_ylabel("mV")
ax.set_title("CH%d (WFM)" % ch.channel_number)
ax.grid(True)
axes[-1].set_xlabel("Time (µs)")
fig.suptitle(filename)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()
downloading 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/scottprahl/RigolWFM/main/tests/files/wfm/DHO824-ch1234.wfm'
.wfm vs .bin comparison for DHO824
Both formats produce identical voltage data (correlation = 1.000, RMS error < 0.006 mV).
[10]:
wfm_w = Wfm.from_url(repo + "wfm/DHO824-ch1.wfm", "DHO", selected="1")
bin_w = Wfm.from_url(repo + "bin/DHO824-ch1.bin", "DHO", selected="1")
wfm_v = wfm_w.channels[0].volts
bin_v = bin_w.channels[0].volts
n = min(len(wfm_v), len(bin_v))
corr = np.corrcoef(wfm_v[:n], bin_v[:n])[0, 1]
rms = np.sqrt(np.mean((wfm_v[:n] - bin_v[:n]) ** 2)) * 1000
print(f"CH1 WFM vs BIN: correlation = {corr:.6f}, RMS error = {rms:.4f} mV")
t = wfm_w.channels[0].times * 1e6
plt.plot(t[:200], wfm_v[:200] * 1000, "g-", label="WFM", linewidth=2)
plt.plot(t[:200], bin_v[:200] * 1000, "r--", label="BIN", linewidth=1)
plt.xlabel("Time (µs)")
plt.ylabel("Voltage (mV)")
plt.title("DHO824 CH1: WFM vs BIN (first 200 samples)")
plt.legend()
plt.grid(True)
plt.show()
downloading 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/scottprahl/RigolWFM/main/tests/files/wfm/DHO824-ch1.wfm'
downloading 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/scottprahl/RigolWFM/main/tests/files/bin/DHO824-ch1.bin'
CH1 WFM vs BIN: correlation = 1.000000, RMS error = 0.0005 mV
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