I use a few emulators for neogeo, cps2, etc., and I wonder is the picture I'm getting is true rgb? I'd assume that the rom is raw data and the emulator extracts pure rgb, but thats just speculation.
You're totally confused, and you didn't tell us the important part of the equation. "RGB" is just one of a dozen ways to connect a computer to a display.
There's no inherent difference from a display point of view between a dedicated console's circuits and the circuits of your computer, so whether it's emulated or on the original hardware the question of "RGB or not" is totally irrelevant.
I misused the term RGB. Here RGB is synonymous with "absolute highest quality" rather than its literal meaning. To rephrase my question, is the signal generated by a console the same quality as the signal from an emulator? If I were to put an old rgb monitor with a console outputting rgb(the best possible signal) next to my PC running an emulator, would there be any difference in picture quality, provided I did not use any graphics enhancements on the emualtor?
If on your computer monitor, then yes, it is in RGB. The rest of your question is asked and answered. You're getting the same output on a normal or simulated system (assuming it runs at a good clip). Because it's on a PC, you happen to get a bonus of at least 480p RGB display. That may be the underlying issue; are you confused as to why the graphics are so blocky? It is the same program and so the same picture, just the emulated one is at double the resolution. Enhancements are only that: enhancements. They pretty up the picture, but aren't needed to achieve a console-perfect picture. Just turn on those scanlines and you'll have that.
OK, thanks to both of you.