So is it legal and they have modded consoles on the shelf, and advertise this fact, or is it illegal and all done on the sly? Say I turned up in Portugal and decided I wanted to buy a modded console, assume I speak the language but don't know my way around and don't know anybody, can I find a store that will sell me a modded console as easily as I can one that will sell my a legit console?
Probably, but what does PC users being more tech savvy have to do with PC piracy versus console piracy?
All you're doing here is showing just how much more complicated it is to run pirated games on console than on PC.
Clearly we have a different idea of what makes for "tech savvy". 100% of the people I know with HD consoles and HD TVs didn't even realise their consoles were still running in SD. That's about as un-savvy as you get. To someone like that, "all you need to do is insert a memory card and run a self-extracting program that you've set up on a PC" is anything but simply, it'd sound rather intimidating. It might sound simple to us, but I can guarantee you that the average person won't agree.
I don't know how in Portugal, but here it is compeltely legal to do with your purchased goods what you think is best for you... you are only risking to lose warranty if you open it... and this can be circumvented when you let it mod by someone who works in "authorised repair shop" (dont know the right english name for facility like this)...