Looking into joining the Blu-Ray scene, need some help

[Hellhog]

This is my first post, I'm looking for help on figuring out the best Blu-Ray Player. I'm pretty tech savy on last generation's equipment and somewhat with HDTVs but now with HDMI, Receivers, Decoders, Blu-Ray, Digital Audio... its all another language for me that just adds frustration.

Let me paint a picture so that I can get the best help possible:

I am not an avid movie enthusiast, more of a gamer. I rarely go to the movies or watch them (but thats because I don't own anything good). What I want to be able to do is watch the few movies I do want in HD and upconvert my DVDs to make use with my 720p LCD TV I bought 14 months ago Toshiba 19AV500U. (Just so people understand what I'm looking at: The BD movies I'm interested in are Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Full Metal Jacket, Blade Runner, MASH, and the Bourne Trilogy. The DVDs I want to upconvert are Star Wars and my Looney Tunes box sets)

I only use my TV Speakers for watching TV. I have a 5 year old Panasonic Shelf Stereo System (SA-AK320) and the Turtle Beach Ear Force X4 Headphones. I am an avid Xbox 360 gamer. I have the Toslink going to my Turtle Beachs and RCA Audio to my Stereo (I use one for personal play and the other when company is around or using Rock Band).

I have thought about buying the new PS3 Slim with the price drop and all but when searching through the game library and watching different vids, I really didn't find any games that interested me (more than half my 360 games are exclusives). Also, I'm a little worried about buying Sony since every Sony product myself or my family has ever owned broke down way too easily (even my PS2). That and I've never been a multi-console individual. I've always had only one platform at a time.

I also use wireless internet connections for my Xbox 360 and Laptop in my room so BD Players with ethernet connections will never get used online.

I came to this sight under recomendation on the Xbox forums. I was also recomended that I get the Panasonic DMP-BD60. I am looking for a cheap player that will still produce a great image on my TV, produces great 5.1 channel suround sound for my headphones, and stereo sound for my speakers. The only issue I see is that my TV is 16:10 aspect ratio. In order to get a perfect 16:9 ratio I use a VGA cable from my Xbox running at a 1440 x 900 resolution (I get black bars preventing my image from being stretched). In a sense I don't want a stretched image.

What BD player would you recomend? Why?
I'm also confused about some of the technical aspects I've read, apparently BD players need to have firmware updates to play newer movies?

I appreciate all help!