Re: PIC or AVR timer
Count number of pins that will be required to realize all functions you would like to have and then just toss a coin: heads PIC, tails AVR or any other.
My personal preference is a microcontroller with multiplexed data/address bus. Even if you don't need this funtion in one project (all pins can be still used as simple I/Os) in some cases it will be very easy to connect several divices (such as LCD display with 8-bit data bus, external memory, A/D....) to the same bus..
Choice is yours..