best receiver under ~300

[kazza2ud]

Hey guys, I just want something basic and solid for a home theater and some PS3 games. I thought these looked ok:

Onkyo 505/506/575 (can't tell difference) vs Yamaha RX-V363

but people complain a lot about how the audio doesn't pass through HDMI on these units. Then there's also the Yamaha RX-V463 which is 100 bucks more than the 363 and I can't figure out why, but no one gave that one a bad review for not being able to pass audio through HDMI, so I can't figure out if it can or cannot.

How important is the HDMI audio pass through? I'll have a PS3 and that can do all the decoding, but if I have to use some other cable for audio, will that reduce the quality of the sound? I won't have very many inputs, probably just the PS3 for now.

Oh and I heard there are buzzing and other problems with the new Onkyo's 605/606 line so I was trying to avoid that, plus... I basically just need something simple so was trying to save money. What do you guys think?