so just make sure the display has 2 hdmi inputs and i am good to go then? sounds good. and the panny bd 50 would still be the player of choice?

Make sure the display has two HDMI inputs, or get a separate HDMI switch (like this one , although there are plenty of others).

will do. now the bd50 seems to be selling for around $400 at all spots...will the sony 350 work for me? it seems like it should but....

The S350 does not have a multichannel analog output, so you would be giving up Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution and Master Audio, and multichannel PCM audio tracks. That's why the BD50 is going to be a better choice in your case.

Just to throw my two cents in, I recently bought the Sony S550 and with the gracious help of gonk, got it hooked up through my 950 and the analog ins and the picture on my Toshiba 65HX81 is stunning (even though I am using component, no HDMI) and the sound is just amazing (Cars on blu-ray is a must). Would never have thought the sound would be so much for enveloping but it is. Sony was running a deal for $150.00 dollars off your first $300 purchase if you signed up for their SonyCard (visa). getting the player for $250 was a deal-maker for me but I had been researching both the 550 and the Panny 55. Sony may still be running a deal but I heard it may only be $100 off. go to Sonystyle.com to check. So far everything I've played has worked and have had no problems at all. It's quite the player. hope this helps.
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will one of the sharp's work or am i looking at just the sony and panny at the lower price point?

There's not much info around on the Sharp 21U (a co-worker bought one recently but I don't think he's unboxed it because he's searching for the cheapest player he can find and things that he may return it for a better deal). The 50U will decode everything except DTS-HD Master Audio and has a 5.1 analog output. The 20U will decode DD+ and TrueHD only (with a 48kHz/24bit hardware limitation) and has a 5.1 analog output, but it's a Profile 1.0 player and I don't recommend any of the players released prior to last fall (when Profile 1.1 support became mandatory).

This thread at AVS offers a great overview of audio support from different Blu-ray players. You'll notice that there are a few different players with onboard decoding and 5.1 or 7.1 analog output (Samsung 2500, Pioneer Elite 05FD, Marantz 8002), but the prices tend to be higher for that capability.

so it would seem its the sony and the panny unoess the samsung 2500 goes on a real nice price drop

I've been doing some research as well, except I'm using the 1050 still. I'll still be hooking up the DVD to 5.1 analog inputs. Anyway, I read a lot of bad things about the 2500 - and Samsungs in general. I wanted to buy one because I have a Samsung TV.

If you look on Amazon, the Panasonic BD-55 is actually cheaper than the BD-50. The Sony also gets good reviews, but I've had more reccommendations for the Panasonic so I'll be going with that one.

Hope you don't mind me asking for more advice, but I lucked out and got a great deal on a 983H that will be arriving next Wednesday. I am planning on using HDMI directly into by TV and connecting to my 950 through coaxial. I've read your review of the unit and that has helped point me in the right direction but wanted to know if there was anything specific I needed to do to make sure everything runs smoothly. thanks, I appreciate it.