We do this all the time...yes, you can come close to the look of ambered floor finishing film. There are some one step floor sealers coming on the market that will color the wood to give it that yellowish look...they are primarilly professional use products. You must follow stain application rates and dry times. Use a finishing system that is designed for product compatability.

Minwax will work. I would seal it first. Get the Minwax sanding sealer. This will make it a bit easier to sand before you apply the poly and the sealer helps you arrive at a smoother surface with fewer coats. I have used Old Masters stains a million times and have topcoated with all different brands of clears and never had issues.

When they say don't "cheap out" LISTEN!! Take my advice, I learned the hard way. You can a) paint one coat of cheap-y paint, and then re-paint it year after year, and re-scrape, and get a sunburn and waste weeks on end, or.... b) pay the money up front, and do it right. Expensive lesson, especially when you are painting a huge garage. DON'T use those vinyl spackling buckets that cost 2.79. Get good exterior caulking, whichever one costs the MOST is probably the best one. Be patient, just let it dry all the way. Scrape off EVERY peel, no matter how long it takes. If it's REAL bad? Get the spray on stuff, and get every last bit off. That's what I wish I'd done. And I did scrape to bare wood, but used crummy spackle and crummy paint, and one coat. Saving $50 on paint and materials is now probably going to cost me 16 hours time, and over $150 to fix. If I could afford it, I would spend $2500 to side the thing and never do this again. Spend the money up front, take your time. A GOOD paint job will last 10-20 years. Mine lasted 16 months, and looks worse than when I started. And I had professional help. Who told me to buy the good stuff, and I ignored him, thinking how smart I was. And don't try to paint outside when it's 80 degrees. ACHHHHHGGG!

Assuming you're using clear poly, generally oil based poly will bring out the wood color somewhat which is the opposite of what you seem to have observed. The finish will yellow over time but I doubt you would have observed this in a short period of time. I'm not sure what you consider shiny. Satin oil poly is not shiny but if it's too shiny for your taste there are duller oil based finishes. It's important to stir the poly thoroughly because the flatting agent settles to the bottom. You can also pour some of the poly off the top before stirring to get a duller result. I like the oil finish since it's tough, easy to use and dries slowly allowing time to apply uniformly. The downside is that the longer drying time can allow time for dust to settle in the finish.