You did good Nick, and welcome to the club. My A2 has been problem / glitch free, so no worries there. Just make sure you update the firmware (via ethernet). It's quite painless.

In a year there will be gen four players most likely, so don't worry about not getting a G3 player.

A good source for HD/BR reviews is at Secrets http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/main.html
You can read them and decide if it's worth the trouble of buying or even renting before you do. I've found them very helpfull.

Also, a good, cheap HDMI AVR that I had for a while is the Yamaha 661. I think you can find them for under $400. It might be worth a look when you get the itch to hear lossless sound (and I'm sure you will).