[b112]

I bought a PS2 from a guy decades ago, back when a chip hack broke Sony's copy protection.

His deal was you pay him, he'd then walk across the street to FutureShop, buy the PS2, and do the hack.

So he bought the chips, had them in stock, but didn't invest capital in the rest.

You could easily do the chip hack yourself, but you risked bricking the beast, due to lack of experience.

So the $50 was worth it, chip included.

I'm sure you could do the same with TV hacks, so upfront capital costs are minimal, with reduced risk.

[samrus]

This is true, and hacks of these sort are a cottage industry

The difference with smart TVs that might kill the value proposition is that the smart aspect doesnt actually impeed the user. You can just ignore it and hook up cable or your laptop to the tv. So would people pay to remove it on philosophical grounds. IDK