I wonder if you (or anyone for that matter) has experimented with interfacing an 8-bit DAC to one of the 8051 ports for more accurate generation of either monochrome or color.

I realize it would take a pretty fast DAC, as well as a ton of frame buffer memory, but I don't see why its not possible with the 8051. When interfacing external memory to the 8051, is this external memory ever a limiting factor for the NTSC timing for the work you have done? (Doesn't external ram take longer to access in terms of clock cycles than does internal ram on the Dallas HSMs?)