IMO, S-video looks bad compared to component, and MAME over 480i component looks bad compared to RGB + native resolution (though component + running the game in its native progressive resolution would probably be damn close to RGB; but difficult to accomplish).
Uhh, interlaced, not progressive. Very few arcade monitors at all were progressive untill about ten or so years ago.
All classic arcade games that I know of were progressive scan (in the 240p range for the standard resolution ones).
Really, arcade monitors were no better than TVs of the same era it's just that TVs didn't come with nice RGB connections. (At least not in North America, stupid SCART people! D:)
That's true, but the RGB connection makes a huge difference in terms of picture quality.
BTW, ordinary TVs of the same era could do progressive scan as well. The original Playstation usually generated a 240p signal for example.
Standard resolution TVs/monitors just want ~15 KHz; they don't "care" if it is progressive or interlaced. 480i (30 Hz) and 240p (60 Hz) are both ~15 KHz. You can also drop the refresh rate below 60 Hz and use a higher number of progressive lines (e.g., 288p @ 50 Hz).
I'm glad that most of the arcade games I play are newer and nativelly ran at 525 lines.
Examples?
I honestly dont get this whole thread. If your playing old arcade games on nice sharp screens, Your just not playing PROPERLY!
I mean, i can only talk for my own experiences, But i like to recreate the arcade feel of when i was a kid.
So my perfect cab would have colours that are slightly off, a different type of stick for each player, random coloured buttons, cracks in the panel and ---Bad words, bad words, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when saint censors you?--- burns. (ciggarette burns for our friends across the pond). Oh and being able to change character mid fight with the start button (sf2 rainbow FTW!)
How old are you? I played on a lot of new or nearly new arcade machines when I was a kid. For example, I was playing Punch-Out in 1984, the same year that it came out. The machine was like new. Have you ever seen the picture on a new Sanyo 20-EZV? They are definitely "nice sharp screens", and the colors are not even remotely "off".
It sounds like your childhood may have been during the SFII era; in which case you were playing mostly on conversion machines. For example, if you are playing SFII on a ~10-year-old (at the time) Defender machine with its original monitor, it probably isn't going to look so great.