SIR-TS160 will not tune digital cable (no QAM).
There are some STBs coming out (like the LG LST-3100A) that can handle OTA and
unencrypted QAM. Depending on your cable company ... you
should be able to use these to get any digital channels that are broadcast 'in the clear' ... ie, unencrypted. Of course, how many channels you can get unencrypted is ... up to your cable company.
Also, the LG LST-3100A doesn't tune NTSC so it won't get any analog channels ... and there's only one coax so you'd have to do some switching to get both cable and OTA ... probably a few other PItAs as well.
By this time next year you
should be able to buy an STB that has both OTA and a cable-card slot. Your cable company sends you a card, you plug it in, and everything works ...
See:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=298086
I wouldn't expect the cable company to rent boxes that do both OTA and cable any time soon though.