Good Receiver

I want a basic receiver. It can't cost more than $300. I'm not one for super high end sound, but it must support 5.1 surround sound. I don't know what is good and what isn't. I'm thinking I want 7.1 surround sound capability. I want to connect it to my Xbox 360 which supports Dolby Digital (5.1) and DTS. My computer is a MA790-UD4P. It supports 7.1 and has optical and Coaxial outputs. I supports Dolby Home Theater which looks like is Dolby Prologic IIx which is 7.1. Is that 7.1 derived from 5.1? I would like something that sounds good, but I'm pretty sure I don't need a $1000 receiver. High end audio isn't my thing, but I want surround sound. I don't think my mobo offers any other 7.1 options, but I don't know. It does have a Realtek ALC889A codec. I don't know exactly what that is. My question is are their any suggestions or comments. My current receiver shows that a surround sound signal is incoming, but it won't play any sounds unless I'm watching a DVD on my Xbox or I have my pc or Xbox set to stereo. I assume it is just a bad receiver. Here is what I've looked at so far.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] CatId=3418

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_158ST [...] _and_specs