New to the PSP...

OK guys....I am new to the PSP section, but want to get started. What is the best way for me to be able to get a PSP that can do homebrew, but also do retail games that I buy. Reason is, Crisis Core came out and I am a diehard Final Fantasy Fan, and I would love to play it while also using the PSX-Emu to play my old FF7-9 disc...
Also, all this talk about firmware has got my mind spinning, if someone could explain to me if you could use a sony firmware to run homebrew or would i need a custom?
Thanks everyone,

*gets ready for the flames*

To play homebrew and PSX converted games to PSP with no problems you need an Custom Firmware. There only one official Sony firmware which runs homebrew (the 1.50) ,iit wont run PSX games... and it´s completely obsolete.
Downgrade your PSP if necessary and install 3.71 M33 or another custom firmware (3.52 M33-4 and 3.40 OE aare good to) if you want use all the PSP power.
You can downgrade using the Pandora BAttery trick or if your PSP have 3.50 firmware or bellow use the Lumines exploit (non-patched Lumines UMD required).