so I ende up trying an indoor antenna last night and after some tinkering(a few hours worth) I tuned in all my local HD channels with the simple indoor antenna. now today I turn it on again to check out a few settings and all the channels are out.

I try making a few minor adjustments and nothing. now for the strange part. the antenna signals are showing in the 70s and 80s yet I have nothing but a choppy picture. last night I had some channels where the signal was in the 50s and they were as smooth as silk. this is all really annoying.