One approach to "dumping" new NTSC VCRs?

[kx250rider]

I was at Fry's last night, and saw a pallet of Sony DVD player-VHS VCR units on sale for $89... I immediately thought WOW! I can get this and use it also as a digital converter box, since being that it's illegal to sell anything new for NTSC, it MUST be ATSC. But to my surprise, these ARE NTSC machines, but have had the tuners removed or disabled to allow them to be sold. The "CHANNEL/TRACKING" + & - buttons are screen-printed out to show only "TRACKING". There's a big label on the box that says "THIS UNIT MUST BE CONNECTED TO AN EXTERNAL SOURCE, SUCH AS A DVD PLAYER OR A CATV BOX IN ORDER TO RECORD TV PROGRAMS".

STRANGE! I didn't buy one, but I bet they'll be a collectors item.

Charles