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.