I always assumed arbitrary controllers that can plugged in a console's controller port with a compliant interface were fair game on TASVideos, but I just stumbled on something that made me doubt this.
I recently stumbled on this forum post describing how it's possible to modify an N64 controller to get really weird properties in GoldenEye 007:
https://forums.the-elite.net/index.php?topic=23894.0
Now, this trick was banned for RTA runs, but I can't find a clear-cut answer in the case of a TAS. On one hand, it sounds like invalid hardware usage like the crooked cartridge trick. On the other hand, TASVideos uses plenty of tricks not normally supported by official controllers, like pressing opposite direction on a D-pad, or like pressing the extra 4 buttons not present on a normal SNES controller.
So, is this trick valid or invalid for TAS?
I know the Movie Rules specifies using authentic hardware, but breaking a controller's D-pad or pressing non-existant buttons doesn't sound very authentic either, so I'm not sure what applies here.
I guess it depends on whether the modification messes with the controller port interface specifications? I don't know enough about electrical engineering to know whether that's the case here or not...
