Sorry to come into this almost 2 weeks after the fact but I just spent several hours trying to find the golden solution to this very problem.
All these component to VGA converters are BS!!!! Either they will display 480p BUT NOT 480i (
WWW.WTF.COM), or make you jump through some hoops to get the right adapters which in turn degrades the quality anyways.
And in my case, I have a widescreen monitor which will make those nice 4:3 ratio ONLY games stretch to fit the screen. So, I would definitely need something that will allow me to control the screen aspect and size.
I came to the same conclusion that a high quality tv tuner card would solve all this but none are to be found that have the proper YPbPr inputs. Why not just get a TV? BECAUSE THIS IS THE AGE OF TECHNOLOGY

.... I demand the satisfaction of using ONE output...
anyways, I think this issue should be escalated further. Hopefully one of us comes across the holy grail of video devices for under 300 bucks. Seriously, whats the best way? I found this:
http://www.provantage.com/startech-v...v~7STRV013.htm
but it shows no indicated of supporting 480i... anyone else have any info?