AVR-Chat

Hi Folks,
A little off topic (but we'll still have one of our favorite MCUs driving 
the mess)
  I want to drive a rather large array of electro-luminescent segments. 4 
to 8 "chars" with about 16 segments each "char".
  EL displays need to be driven by a high voltage ac signal in the 100-200 
volt 100hz-8khz range, current is very low.
  Trying for the simplest, cheapest, and  preferably smd approach (I doubt 
these will be achievable).
  I'm not real experienced with the hv ac design of the problem, and just 
want to bounce a couple of schemes off the list.

I can see a couple of ways right off the line. (after some googling)

  First,
   I make an hv ac power supply swinging +/- 100 volts around ground, use 
triacs to select segments, and I THINK I can also use triacs to select 
digits. I believe triacs would drive okay from the avr, should not need 
isolation.  But, I can't find triacs in packages smaller then to-92. Would 
like sot-23 package. Suppose I could mount the to-92 as smd.
   Power supply would have to be true ac to be sure triacs would turn off 
by themselves.

  Second,
  Make a DC hv power supply about 100vdc. Use a couple of mosfets to switch 
segments between hv, ground, or hi-z. Ditto for digit select. Reversing 
drive will supply the ac signal requuired at about 200 volts potential to 
selected segment. Something like an  h-bridge. I like this better because I 
can adjust the drive freq. / dutycycle in firmware and get brightness 
control. But, I have no idea how to configure  / interface the fets to 
avr.  Seems like more parts, but more control over the parts.
   Power supply design would be simpler.

Whatever happens I'll probably be using shift registers to expand the avr 
output pins.

  Anybody hit this one before?
  Thanks
  -carl