Nios II Embedded Evaluation Kit

Hello,

I'm looking for a low-cost development kit based on FPGA Cyclone. The board should enable me to do coding in VHDL or Verilog to access external peripheries like convertors and memories I can connect and coding in C-language if available. I'd like also to say Altera's FPGA and design tools are new to me, I'm experienced in other supplier FPGA board and the board I'm looking for is only for personal use.

I might interest in your Nios II Embedded Evaluation Kit (NEEK), Cyclone III Edition (DK-N2EVAL-3C25N) but not sure if it meet my requirements. I read the product description and wiki pages about Nios processor but still don't know for same parts. My first question is if the kit allows disabling the processor core and start coding in VHDL? I like the board abilities such as uCLinux but also need coding in VHLD or in Verilog.

I would like also use the board abilities for video processing using Composite TV-input coding in VHDL and C-language if available. My application target is a simpler object recognition and 2-D filtration. From the descriptions the board performance seems to be adequate. Am I right?

Thank you,

Petr Mosna