DE0 or DE0-Nano for image processing study

[Altera_Forum]

Hello, I am an undergraduate student in Computer Engineering and I'm in need of a little advice.  

 I'm starting to learn about image processing because in the future I would like to create a device with some machine vision capabilities (edge detection, etc) as a senior design project; however, for now I'm looking for an FPGA I can use over the summer to tinker with and learn about creating and sending images to a monitor in the first place. I've narrowed down my prospects to either the DE0 or DE0-nano. That the DE0 has a vga port already on it would have made the choice obvious, but I found a site where someone was able to make a very simple vga breakout board for the Nano; that coupled with its Cyclone IV and that its all around more powerful has put me on the fence.   For what I'm doing, the end goal being to learn what I can about elementary image processing, should I buy a DE0 or DE0-Nano? Money is not factor.  Thanks :)

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---   Money is not factor.   --- Quote End ---    Then why not buy exactly what you need.  The Terasic NEEK has VGA and a screen. The Terasic tPAD is a DE2-115 with VGA and a screen.  There are a number of I/O boards that can be attached to the DE2 boards.  Browse around the Terasic web site and see what they have.  Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks for the reply Dave. I should have clarified, what I meant when I said that money was not a factor was that the price difference between the DE0 and DE0-Nano wasn't something I was concerned about. Unfortunately, the tPad is outside my budget (trying to keep it sub $200, but that's not an absolute limit).

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  I should have clarified, what I meant when I said that money was not a factor was that the price difference between the DE0 and DE0-Nano wasn't something I was concerned about. Unfortunately, the tPad is outside my budget (trying to keep it sub $200, but that's not an absolute limit).  --- Quote End ---    Ok.  Since you are a student, you should qualify for student pricing of the boards.  So the DE0 is $79 and the DE0-nano is $59. Buy them both?   Or buy the DE0 and get the $99 LCD panel  http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=68&no=78  Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

Unfortunately the LCD on that page is EOL :( 

 If bit-resolution is a consideration, please make note that the DE0 supports 4-bit color resolution (instead of 8-bit or 10-bit).  For a more detailed breakdown, check out this page: http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&no=538