Jailbreaking Hotel TVs in Japan

I was in Japan and wanted to use the hotel TV as a large monitor.

But the TV was running a hardened OS which restricted me to do so.

I could only watch local TVs and use the apps shown on the remote controller.

But I couldn't just accept being beaten by a TV.

So I tried to "jailbreak" it with the following ways but all yielded no results :

• Pressing the "switch source" button: nothing happened

• Physical button on TV: only 1 button available for power, no joystick type of controls.

• Changing the settings: can't even reach that screen
• Plugging in the cable for TV's auto prompt to switch source: nothing happened

• Use USB drive as input (so I could at least watch a movie): nothing happened

As a last resort, I plugged in the USB mouse receiver to see if there's anything interesting.

Surprisingly, a big cursor showed up, and when I right-clicked, a virtual remote controller showed up.

I clicked on the button in red and could finally switch source to my laptop!

I honestly wanted to give up after trying for >15 minutes with no success.

But I'm glad I didn't.

And I think that's what "try harder" truly means.

It means breaking rules so you can watch One Piece 🫣