New life for Wiis with damaged CDROM drive.

[Num Lock]

I have recently received information that since 1st September 2009 Internet Channel for Wii no longer costs 500 points. It is now as free as normal PC version of Opera, and those who spent 500 Wii points for Internet Channel for their Wiis in the past, will get them back.
Then an idea arose. Probably a Wii with damaged CDROM drive would cost much less than a new machine in full working condition, right? This means that now you can buy such a Wii with damaged drive, download Internet Channel into it (for free, not for 500 points like in the past), and voila - you now have a small, cheap and low-power-
consumption internet enabled set-top box!
And yes, you can do it without having to illegelly hack anything. You can even portablize it using the well-known console portablizing technoques.
I am wondering whether any hobbyist has implemented this.

 

[DBloke]

Slight prob

The Wiis main drive isnt a CD one.(Dual layer DVD)(cant play DVDs without a hack)
Also as a set top box the Wii is rubbish (even if fully working)
-Its browser wont work on all sites
-No TV card for watching normal TV
-Small hard-drive that cant have programs saved on it
-The mentioned lack of DVD playback without a homebrew hack

For the same price as a Wii you can get a cheap PC that will work out better as a media centre.

 

[Num Lock]

But a used Wii with damaged DVD drive will probably cost much, much less than a fully working one? Am i right?

 

[DBloke]

But a used Wii with damaged DVD drive will probably cost much, much less than a fully working one? Am i right?

Of coarse (unless its some dodgy gezza).
But then its still not worth using it as a set top box

 

[Shadow*91]

this is what my wii has been reduced to since it stopped playing games.

mind you though i've been using it for internet since June '08