If he sniffed them back, like you say, he would have no need for the Circle Pad at all, as the only thing the 3DS needs are the right IR inputs.
If you look at the disassembled Slide Pad expansion, you'll see just how simplistic in design it actually is. It's perfect to house his own modifications and send back whatever input he would like. Having the Slide Pad expansion attached makes me think he's using it for some purpose, rather than using his own rig to send back the IR inputs necessary. It's more ergonomically sound to use what is already there, rather than attach your own. If you were in his situation, you know you would do the same. I have no doubt that the face buttons are hardwired, and we don't seem to be in disagreement there. I'm just saying, why would he have a device attached in this video that is in none of the others when it is serving no purpose? It doesn't make sense. He's clearly using the IR for something.
Yeah, I know, it was the same thing I noticed when I posted the pic. It's really simplicistic.
Well, he might've went the easy way and have hardwired those too. Why sniff back the IR, if you can just use what's already there?
I suspect that he's using the CCP pad case to store all the wires of the face controls, and to (obviously) house the modified phone connector.
