Few questions from a noob

[sleeper]

I've recently decided that I want to invest in a Blu-ray drive for my PC. My computer is pretty old, as I built it nearly three years ago. Here's a quick rundown of my specs (copy/pasted from sig in another forum):

CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester @ 2.5GHz
Power Supply: Antec Trio! 550W PSU
Mobo: Biostar TForce4SLI 939
Memory: 2GB (2 x 1GB) XMS Corsair DDR400
Video Card: 2X EVGA 7800GT 256MB (SLI)
Hard Drive: 2X 7200.2 Seagate Barracuda 160GB
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy X-Fi XtremeMusic
Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 ATX Case
Cooler: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm
Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate
Monitor: Acer H213H 21.5" Full HD 1080P

The monitor I have ordered but have not yet received. Its native resolution is 1920x1080. I realize I need an HDCP-compliant video card to play Blu-ray, but I heard that you don't need one if you use AnyDVD HD. I was just wondering if using my current video cards with AnyDVD HD would downgrade the quality at all?

Also, what Blu-ray drive would you guys recommend that's in the $100-$150 range? There doesn't seem to be (from what I've seen) a clear consensus on the best drive out there.

Thanks in advance.