HTPC newbie looking for some answers

I'm not sure if this is the right spot for this but since I was thinking of running Windows 7 Home Premium I thought I would give it a shot.

What I'm looking to do is make essentially a DVD jukebox; iTunes for movies per se. I want to be able to rip all my owned DVDs (which number about 500 or so now) into a system that I can then access the movies in a graphical mode and play them back. That way I can put the discs away and not have to pull them out unless something goes wrong with the digital files. I also would like to be able to play my Blu-Rays and HD-DVDs as well. I have no interest in ripping them (too large) but I want to be able to play the discs, especially my HD-DVDs. I own a copy of Any-DVD HD now.

So my question is can this be done by someone who is pretty new to the whole HTPC scene? I need the system to be very easy to use and remote controlled. I don't need a ton of bells and whistles like being able to record TV or anything. I would like though something that gives me the best quality so when I watch the DVDs on a 41" HDTV using a HDMI cable I get the best picture possible given the source (DVDs, HD-DVD, BR).

So what hardware specs should I be looking for? I'm not really looking to build a gaming rig so if onboard video can do HD then I'm fine with that. If a better card that is passively cooled will do the trick then that's what I want to go with. As long as I can get the quality from my movie watching, that's really all I want.

Easy of use would have to be my #1 priority with quality being a very close second. I didn't know if the Windows 7 Media Center can do everything I want or if I should look for something in a third party HTPC application. Can Win7 MC play Blu-Ray? If not, can I have it load another program like PowerDVD 9 seamlessly?

Thanks for the help with all this. I hate to sound like an idiot with this stuff but I basically am.