hi jez , hi oleg

first , i did looked at the website , i surf here a lot.
i also searched the forum quite a bit.

the 8051 in the previous design tend to control the UI (display,touch,remote control).

the actuall operation made by a minimized pc.

the device need to play music , serve as NFS server, maybe play divx , optical drive depends on the final size requirements. it will also contain usb so camera can be connected directly to it (dump the pics to the device). all other computers are connected to it via ethernet so they can see the pics / grab the music.
it will also automaticly manage a portable music player such as ipod or so.
since it is connected to the local LAN which is connected to the internet , the device will do many more operations other than playing mp3. (the divX / movies are only optional. more likely they will not be included in the final design).

what i ment was , with the new screens , 8051 seems to be weak when it comes to driving them.

i though of buying SBC (there are advantech solution. tiny PCs whose graphic card also support LCD , but first , most of them are TFT and not stn , also , it will be like 500$. i can efford that kind of expenss , but i will feel like i dont have any challenge. besides , i have 8 screens , i will sell some , but i also thought of doing a "digital-frame" (small picture frame that displays digital pictures) in the living room , and if i wont find cheap solution for driving the screens , it will be a huge expenss.

jez ,as of your VGA project, to be honest , i dont have any experience in HDL. but if i wont have any other option , i will study it.