Picture Quality Question?

[Don480]

Hi everyone...I am new to this forum and I have a question. I purchased a used Yamaha RX-V663 from Craigslist. Unfortunately, the guy I purchased it from never told me that it was a refurbished model. The receiver said B Stock and I asked him what it ment and he made some lie up and I believed him. Anyways I'll get to the point. I own a 50" Pioneer Kuro Plasma and a Playstation 3. I connected the new receiver via HDMI and I noticed a difference in the brightness of the picture to the point where the blacks don't look so black. It looks like when you turn up the brightness to much that it makes the picture look more whiter. FYI...I also purchase an additional HDMI cable for ten bucks that was generic to hook up the PS3 to the receiver. The old HDMI cable was purchased from Radio Shack used to be connected to the tv from the PS3 which worked fine before.

Do you think it is a receiver issue or the generic HDMI cable is no good?

Thank you all!

Don