By the mid-1980s, computers had outgrown these video systems and needed better displays. Most home and basic office computers suffered from the use of the old scanning method, with the highest display resolution being around 640x200 (or sometimes 640x256 in 625-line/50 Hz regions), resulting in a severely distorted tall narrow pixel shape, making the display of high resolution text alongside realistic proportioned images difficult (logical "square pixel" modes were possible but only at low resolutions of 320x200 or less). Solutions from various companies varied widely. Because PC monitor signals did not need to be broadcast, they could consume far more than the 6, 7 and 8 MHz of bandwidth that NTSC and PAL signals were confined to. IBM's Monochrome Display Adapter and Enhanced Graphics Adapter as well as the Hercules Graphics Card and the original Macintosh computer generated video signals of 342 to 350p, at 50 to 60 Hz, with approximately 16 MHz of bandwidth, some enhanced PC clones such as the AT&T 6300 (aka Olivetti M24) as well as computers made for the Japanese home market managed 400p instead at around 24 MHz, and the Atari ST pushed that to 71 Hz with 32 MHz bandwidth - all of which required dedicated high-frequency (and usually single-mode, i.e. not "video"-compatible) monitors due to their increased line rates. The Commodore Amiga instead created a true interlaced 480i60/576i50 RGB signal at broadcast video rates (and with a 7 or 14 MHz bandwidth), suitable for NTSC/PAL encoding (where it was smoothly decimated to 3.5~4.5 MHz). This ability (plus built-in genlocking) resulted in the Amiga dominating the video production field until the mid-1990s, but the interlaced display mode caused flicker problems for more traditional PC applications where single-pixel detail is required, with "flicker-fixer" scan-doubler peripherals plus high-frequency RGB monitors (or Commodore's own specialist scan-conversion A2024 monitor) being popular, if expensive, purchases amongst power users. 1987 saw the introduction of VGA, on which PCs soon standardized, as well as Apple's Macintosh II range which offered displays of similar, then superior resolution and color depth, with rivalry between the two standards (and later PC quasi-standards such as XGA and SVGA) rapidly pushing up the quality of display available to both professional and home users.
by the mid-1980s computers had outgrown these video systems and needed better displays most home and basic office computers suffered from the use of the old scanning method with the highest display resolution being around 640x200 (or sometimes 640x256 in 625-line/50 hz regions) resulting in a severely distorted tall narrow pixel shape making the display of high resolution text alongside realistic proportioned images difficult (logical "square pixel" modes were possible but only at low resolutions of 320x200 or less) solutions from various companies varied widely because pc monitor signals did not need to be broadcast they could consume far more than the 6 7 and 8 mhz of bandwidth that ntsc and pal signals were confined to ibm's monochrome display adapter and enhanced graphics adapter as well as the hercules graphics card and the original macintosh computer generated video signals of 342 to 350p at 50 to 60 hz with approximately 16 mhz of bandwidth some enhanced pc clones such as the at&t 6300 (aka olivetti m24) as well as computers made for the japanese home market managed 400p instead at around 24 mhz and the atari st pushed that to 71 hz with 32 mhz bandwidth - all of which required dedicated high-frequency (and usually single-mode ie not "video"-compatible) monitors due to their increased line rates the commodore amiga instead created a true interlaced 480i60/576i50 rgb signal at broadcast video rates (and with a 7 or 14 mhz bandwidth) suitable for ntsc/pal encoding (where it was smoothly decimated to 35~45 mhz) this ability (plus built-in genlocking) resulted in the amiga dominating the video production field until the mid-1990s but the interlaced display mode caused flicker problems for more traditional pc applications where single-pixel detail is required with "flicker-fixer" scan-doubler peripherals plus high-frequency rgb monitors (or commodore's own specialist scan-conversion a2024 monitor) being popular if expensive purchases amongst power users 1987 saw the introduction of vga on which pcs soon standardized as well as apple's macintosh ii range which offered displays of similar then superior resolution and color depth with rivalry between the two standards (and later pc quasi-standards such as xga and svga) rapidly pushing up the quality of display available to both professional and home users