Best TV/HDMI shield for building Modern 8 bit ATMega Computer

NardJ:

  • cost < $50

I think that is rather fanciful.

The only reason Pi is so cheap and does so much is mass production.

For PAL or NTSC generation you are better off using a custom chip.

In the past i have worked with video codecs and they are not trivial or cheap to build from scratch.

NardJ:
chips don't have the horsepower to generate HDMI. .

Thet cannot generate PAL/NTSC either.
You will need a video generator for your display.
A bit like the graphics card on a PC.