Configurations, Yeah Yeah

It’s that time again, when I list a bunch of hardware and yap on about what I’d *like* for it to do and you guys all tell me if I’m totally out of luck or if there’s an easy way to pull it off or what I need to consider.

Existing: Right now I have a MacBookPro and an external HD with my entire MP3 library on it. (iTunes library is on the drive, not the MBP so I need to have the HD plugged in to launch iTunes) This is what I drag around with me everywhere. At home I have an old PowerBook G4 with external HDs that I manually back up the MP3s to, though syncing the actual library has proven to be near impossible. Additionally I have an old stereo head with speakers and I’ve hooked up AirTunes to and can play music from the PBG4 to the stereo. I have a small TV/DVD combo thingy that isn’t hooked up to anything.

Future: I just inherited an HDTV (thanks cruftbox!) and want to reconfigure things to make this all work a little smoother. For now I’m not worried about smooth syncing between the MPB(and the external HD with it) and the stuff at home though if you have a good suggestion I’m all ears. What I want to do is hook the PBG4 up to the HDTV (I suspect via a DVI-HDMI cable) and use that as the DVD player/media server for the TV. I’d also then just directly connect the sound out on the laptop to the stereo and not worry about AirTunes anymore (save for on the MPB if playing songs off that). Anything I need to know or watch out for? Any recommendations of software or cable brand to research. I need to buy the DVI-HTMI cable so if anything off the shelf is fine then cool, but I’ve heard there is actually a difference between the $20 and $100 ones.

Also, this is my first step into the world of HD. I’m guessing at some point I’ll buy a BluRay disk player but in the meantime playing my standard DVDs through my laptop to the HDTV will still work right? Thanks for any and all advice on this one, I used to be crazy A/V nerd and would make my own coax cables exactly to the size I needed and all that but the 72,000 formats and resolutions and all that have me a bit off my game.