Thank you Electron and others, without your contribution and passion I would not be so informed.
I went out and took the picture of my existing antenna.
It does have a balun on top and antenna itself looks quite decent. Looks like the problem is downstream. I am going to buy some cable and connectors to reach the tv in clean fashion and report back.
My new tv (samsung 550) arrives monday or tuesday and should have the latest tuner. That might change the results too
