[Wiltshire] Mythtv and DVB-C with NTL / Virgin / UK Cable

[Robert Longbottom]

Ok, following on from the brilliant success of my previous question, here
is another!

Does any have a DVB-C card in their computer working with NTL / Virgin Cable?

What I want to know (and can't seem to find out for sure) is can you get
BBC1/2, ITV, Channel 4 and Five in digital from UK cable without having a
subscription or requiring a decryption card?

I know you can get these on Analog over cable (as I currently do), but I'm
wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to get the "free" channels as
digital using a DVB-C card from Virgin or are they all encrypted.

The reason is - I currently have MythTv with the FTA DVB-S (satellite)
channels (BBC's, ITV's, Film Four, etc) - but I can't get Channel 4 or
Five as they are encrypted on Satellite, so I get these from Analog and
the quality is terrible in comparison.

Channel 4 (+ E4, etc) are supposed to be coming to the freesat offering
later in the year (not freesat from sky!), but I've found a site that says
not until October, which seems forever away and still won't include Five. 
So I figured I might buy a £50 DVB-C card and try and get them from
digital cable.

But before I spend my hard earned cash, I thought it would be worth seeing
if anyone else has tried the same thing and failed or succeeded.

Cheers,
Robert.