Personally, I think you should bump your budget up to ~$600 if you want a quality HT receiver that will last you 10+ years. However, if your budget is pretty set in stone then you should just stick to the main brands for quality receivers: Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha, Pioneer. Denon and Onkyo are typically preferred more to us here than the others but at your price point there might not be huge differences.
A $200-$350 HT receiver might be really underpowered if you are trying to drive large speakers.
I tend to buy things once and keep them for oh, 20 years. Given that, what's the best 5.1 receiver I should get for a Home Theatre. Might upgrade to blue ray at some point. Would like the ipod dock. Mostly, I want ease of use, reliability and fantastic sound. I've gotten some Take Classics based on advice here.
Considering Denon 1610
various Yamahas
But I'm pretty clueless and casting myself upon this sea. No need to go on and on (I might not understand it!) But I would be really grateful to have help cutting through the hype online and in the big box stores.
Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic