A very ancient discussion. The number of sgments you are using depends from some other factors. How close do you come to the cylindar, do you see it only from the sides or can you see the top or bottom (then you see the facets a lot better). The closer you come, the more facets you will need. But beside this, i think the discussion needs more to go in the direction "why is Vue not dealing with splines/nurbs?" or "why is Sketchup not sending the right type of splines/nurbs?" Facets are facets. You can define as many points on the curve as you want, you always will be able to create situations where you can see the facets.

One day your ship comes in - but you're at the airport.