BR and HD DVD player programs

Hello everyone. I am an PC enthusiast who just got a new Emerson 32" 720p LCD TV from tiger direct @ 340 shipped. I do not have an upconverting DVD player, but once i hooked my gaming PC up to my TV, i noticed DVD's playing from the computer were about 15-20% better than my Standard DVD player( hooked up to my LCD as well). I am using an DVI cable from my video card attached to a DVI-HDMI converter plug so i can plug it into my TV.

Ok so this brings me to my question. I am an avid enthusiast of high definition, and like most of you, i try to get it the cheapest way possible. I'm looking at a few BR/ HD DVD drives online, which is considerably cheaper than stand alone players, but my question is, what programs are you guys using to play the HD medias? I would hate to get a drive with no software, and then have a million headaches looking for free software out there. So im looking for free Blue Ray, and HD DVD programs that will work, or is it simply as easy as downloading a codec that will work in media player? thanks.

-Windows Vista Ultimate service pack 1
-AMD 9850 2.53 Quad
-Radeon RX3870 512 MB GDDR4 256 bit
-4 gigz OCZ reaperX DDR2 800 memory

The main three are Corel WinDVD,Power DVD and ArcSoft Total Media Theatre. Gotta get the right version for the majority of these apps to work. I really like the ArcSoft app,it's been buggy. For example,it plays the left side of EVERY disc I played,and recently would reboot my box every time I started it. Power DVD is good ,.but it doesn't play my HD DVD discs. Corel is buggy as well,and I'll admit,might not be the right version. I have the LG GGW H20L HD DVD/Blu Ray optical drive which is stellar and is what you should seek for a HD solution for your HTPC below. I should note none of the apps are free ,but can be obtained,by doing some persistant Internet searching...:)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136155&Tpk=lg%20ggw%20h20l

The PowerDVD player necessary to play HD DVDs came with my LG drive. The key is going to be having equipment that will do HD DVD and/or Blu-ray. You can use this
CyberLink Blu-ray Disc Support (http://www.cyberlink.com/stat/bd-support/enu/index.jsp)

to check your system. If it passes for Blu-ray, it will most likely do HD DVD also.

thanks guys, thats exactly the drive i was looking at on ebay.