# My Silver R10 is now BLACK! (Pictures)



## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Well I finally upgraded my Series 1 (Black) to the new model R10. I LOVE it. What an improvement! Pretty much addressed any issues (speed) I had with my previous DirecTiVo but it also created one new one... It only comes in silver and all my other equipment is black. I've seen a lot of interest in a black R10 so I thought some of you might be interested to see how they look painted. The top picture is obviously "before" where I masked off all the buttons and the bottom shots are how it looks now.










Basically all you need is some masking tape, an exacto knife and some black "plastic paint". If you have ever seen an episode of "American Chopper" where Justin or Nub are painting a gas tank, then you probably know the basics of masking. Just run the tip of the exacto knife in the groove around the buttons and peel off the rest (see picture) I also put a square around the DirecTv Logo just to make it look more factory.

If you get any tiny "nicks" or ragged edges around the masking, you can use a black "Sharpie" to touch up and they won't show at all. The picture below shows the twins back in their rack where they belong.


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## myph (Jul 21, 2005)

I never realized until you posted this just how much silver stands out from all my black home theater components.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

myph said:


> I never realized until you posted this just how much silver stands out from all my black home theater components.


The Silver color really stood out in my rack too. Virtually EVERYTHING in there is black. The two silver TiVos were all I could see through the glass. Not a huge deal, but I do think this looks better. I think the black is kinda "classy" looking.


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## roboshh (Apr 18, 2005)

Looks great! :up: :up:


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## chrishicks (Dec 31, 2003)

that looks really good. much better than the sorta zebra stripe look of my stuff. 

I have one dtivo on the top shelf - silver
my reciever on the next shelf - black
2nd dtivo on 3rd shelf - silver
svhs vcr below that - black
dvd recorder - silver
comcast motorola hd box - silver
region free dvd player - black
pioneer ld player - black


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## Edmund (Nov 8, 2002)

I couldn't stand the look of the PSRV83 Proscan vcrs.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Edmund said:


> I couldn't stand the look of the PSRV83 Proscan vcrs.


Really? I rather like them... Of course since they are black you really don't see them in there with the door closed anyway.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

I just put the lid from a standalone 140 series tivo on each of my silver units. No paint required.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Arcady said:


> I just put the lid from a standalone 140 series tivo on each of my silver units. No paint required.


This post is useless without Pictures... 
Seriously. I have no idea if you are kidding or not, but if you aren't then post a picture. I bet other folks would love to try if that's for real...


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## gastrof (Oct 31, 2003)

bareyb said:


> This post is useless without Pictures...
> Seriously. I have no idea if you are kidding or not, but if you aren't then post a picture. I bet other folks would love to try if that's for real...


I forget if it's PTV or Weaknees, but someone out there sells extra/replacement faceplates for TiVos. They'll even give pushbutton front panel controls to a TiVo that didn't have it before.

Apparently they're pretty compatible with any TiVo (except series 1s...grrrrr), so it could be another way of achieving what you've done.

By the way, I thought I noticed a very familiar VCR in that unit. Love the Proscan 83 myself. Have two, one actually working. (  )

Missed getting an extra remote (the dubbing controls) on eBay, because some foolish person wanted it to control an RCA TV set and VCR. 

I felt like saying "You can get the RCA version of this remote ANYWHERE! The Proscan version is the only one with the dubbing control buttons! Don't do this to me!"

Some people are just SO insensitive!


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

I'm not sure what good a picture would do, but I have another dead 140060 on order, and I'll take pics when I install the outer parts onto my last silver Samsung 4040 next week.


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## DPMGR39 (May 21, 2005)

I have so many electronic devices it useless to try to keep them all one color.


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## Billy Bob Boy (Jul 25, 2004)

bareyb said:


> Well I finally upgraded my Series 1 (Black) to the new model R10. I LOVE it. What an improvement! Pretty much addressed any issues (speed) I had with my previous DirecTiVo but it also created one new one... It only comes in silver and all my other equipment is black. I've seen a lot of interest in a black R10 so I thought some of you might be interested to see how they look painted. The top picture is obviously "before" where I masked off all the buttons and the bottom shots are how it looks now.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Tre Chic!


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## herdfan (Feb 5, 2003)

I have an HR10-250 that is going to get that treatment as soon as my Media room is finished.

Nice job! :up:


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## DesignDawg (Aug 10, 2005)

Those two directivos are stacked. HOW GHETTO.


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## rhuntington3 (May 1, 2001)

Wow, cool!


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## LlamaLarry (Apr 30, 2003)

DA50ES?


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

very very nice.
My dTivo is the only silver piece of equipment I own. Thankfully it's pretty well hidden by the door in my Entertainment Center.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

LlamaLarry said:


> DA50ES?


You are correct Sir. You have a good eye for the classics.


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## LlamaLarry (Apr 30, 2003)

Well, I've had mine for 7 or so years and have found no real reason to replace it. One of these days I'll have to get a new HDTV to replace my similarly ancient 36" XBR2 and will likely get a new reciever with HDMI switching and HDMI/component upconversion. I have replaced the DA50ES' LCD remote control with a Harmony 880 though.  
I hate the new silver components though.  Good job on "fixing" yours. :up:


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

herdfan said:


> I have an HR10-250 that is going to get that treatment as soon as my Media room is finished.
> 
> Nice job! :up:


The paint I used was made by Rustoleum. It's "Textured Black Paint for Plastics". It has a very fine texture to it just like the type of paint that is often used on electronics equipment. Creates a nice matte finish that looks totally stock. I bought it at OSH along with the X-Acto Blade which cost me about 10 bucks total.

The trick is to tuck as much masking tape into the groove around the buttons (and the little TiVo guy) as you can with your thumb and fingernail. This scores the surface slightly and makes for an easy cutout with the X-Acto blade.

Of all the projects that I've done which involve "paint" I have to say this was one of the most painless. Very little mess and no brushes or hands to clean up. Simply pulled off the cover (need Torx bits though) and masked off the buttons. It was shockingly easy for the amount of satisfaction I got out of it. I probably would have upgraded to the R10 sooner had I known how easy it would be to get one in black.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

LlamaLarry said:


> Well, I've had mine for 7 or so years and have found no real reason to replace it. One of these days I'll have to get a new HDTV to replace my similarly ancient 36" XBR2 and will likely get a new reciever with HDMI switching and HDMI/component upconversion. I have replaced the DA50ES' LCD remote control with a Harmony 880 though.
> I hate the new silver components though.  Good job on "fixing" yours. :up:


Thanks Larry. I can say that the same goes for me almost exactly with my DA50ES. I can find no compelling reason to change it. I use the built-in power to drive my outdoor speakers and the preamp outputs go to my Amp which feed my surround sound speakers. I also dumped the remote years ago in favor of an MX-500.

One day in the coming years I plan to get into HDTV but so far there aren't enough channels to justify the hassle. The day DirecTv broadcasts the main Network channels in HDTV is the day I dump my current TV and receiver and jump head long into HDTV!


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## herdfan (Feb 5, 2003)

bareyb said:


> The day DirecTv broadcasts the main Network channels in HDTV is the day I dump my current TV and receiver and jump head long into HDTV!


Looks like someone will be getting an HDTV for Xmas. 

At least if you are in the San Francisco DMA. Detroit is up and the top 12 should be one by the end of the year.


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## transpizzle (Nov 6, 2003)

Wonder how it would have looked with the directional pad left silver?


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

herdfan said:


> Looks like someone will be getting an HDTV for Xmas.
> 
> At least if you are in the San Francisco DMA. Detroit is up and the top 12 should be one by the end of the year.


If not this Christmas than next. I fugure by then all the bugs will be out of it and the prices will probably continue to drop.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

transpizzle said:


> Wonder how it would have looked with the directional pad left silver?


I thought about that and thought it would look pretty trick too. In the end I felt like it might be too much contrast (it's really shiny and it's REALLY silver) against the matte black finish. Plus it's easier to just mask off the little plastic plug.


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## transpizzle (Nov 6, 2003)

bareyb said:


> I thought about that and thought it would look pretty trick too. In the end I felt like it might be too much contrast (it's really shiny and it's REALLY silver) against the matte black finish. Plus it's easier to just mask off the little plastic plug.


It looks great the way it is, but I couldn't have resisted leaving that part silver. I think it would make it stand out quite nicely. Better yet, someone could photoshop yours (HINT!!!) and see what it would look like when left silver.


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## bsnelson (Oct 30, 1999)

DesignDawg said:


> Those two directivos are stacked. HOW GHETTO.


What does that say about me?










Er, uh, I mean.. Fo' Shizzle!

(and that's only five of the seven - the other two are at the bottom of that rack)

Brad


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## sda3 (Jun 29, 2004)

How can you keep up with that much TV 14 recordings at once!!


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## bsnelson (Oct 30, 1999)

sda3 said:


> How can you keep up with that much TV 14 recordings at once!!


It's not easy. All of the units are hacked, so I can programmatically make a "master" Now Playing list that includes all units. We use them to record the NHL Center Ice games (all of them), and I have a homemade scoring system that scrapes the scoresheets at nhl.com and produces a composite "index" that suggests how exciting a given game might be based on about 20 or so aspects of the game.

It doesn't report who won, though, so we can pick a game with a big index and be pretty sure that it'll be interesting to watch no matter who wins.

Unfortunately, it's manual programming for the NHLCI games as I still don't have a distributed scheduler. 

Brad


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## LlamaLarry (Apr 30, 2003)

Brad, how do you make the master NPL?


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## Lee L (Oct 1, 2003)

bsnelson said:


> It's not easy. All of the units are hacked, so I can programmatically make a "master" Now Playing list that includes all units. We use them to record the NHL Center Ice games (all of them), and I have a homemade scoring system that scrapes the scoresheets at nhl.com and produces a composite "index" that suggests how exciting a given game might be based on about 20 or so aspects of the game.
> 
> It doesn't report who won, though, so we can pick a game with a big index and be pretty sure that it'll be interesting to watch no matter who wins.
> 
> ...


dude, you need help.


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## Kevin L (Jan 10, 2002)

DesignDawg said:


> Those two directivos are stacked. HOW GHETTO.


Good one, DD!


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## Nfuego (Sep 27, 2004)

bsnelson said:


> It's not easy. All of the units are hacked, so I can programmatically make a "master" Now Playing list that includes all units. We use them to record the NHL Center Ice games (all of them), and I have a homemade scoring system that scrapes the scoresheets at nhl.com and produces a composite "index" that suggests how exciting a given game might be based on about 20 or so aspects of the game.
> 
> It doesn't report who won, though, so we can pick a game with a big index and be pretty sure that it'll be interesting to watch no matter who wins.
> 
> ...


Oh my! I am not a hockey nut, but this is an incredible idea!


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## JustAllie (Jan 5, 2002)

bsnelson said:


> It's not easy. All of the units are hacked, so I can programmatically make a "master" Now Playing list that includes all units. We use them to record the NHL Center Ice games (all of them), and I have a homemade scoring system that scrapes the scoresheets at nhl.com and produces a composite "index" that suggests how exciting a given game might be based on about 20 or so aspects of the game.
> 
> It doesn't report who won, though, so we can pick a game with a big index and be pretty sure that it'll be interesting to watch no matter who wins.
> 
> ...










Wow!!!! I knew you loved hockey and were a DTV hacking expert but... just wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Francesco (Oct 4, 1999)

Interesting, while most of my components are black - and completely visible - I'm toying with putting a 540 "night-light" faceplate on my S1 Philips DSR6000, and painting the cover silver/gray (or getting a Hughes GXCE cover).

FWIW, and it bears repeating, my hacked S1 is tons faster than my R10 in every respect.


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## TXS (Jun 10, 2005)

Barry

In the pictures you posted, it looks like there is some type of black construction paper behind all the units. What is that?


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## TomK (May 22, 2001)

You've inspired me to paint the 'new' HDVR2s I have. I replaced the black DSR6000s I had for hacking purposes and I'm not crazy about the silver color either. Good job, Barey.


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## cmtar (Jan 26, 2005)

TXS said:


> Barry
> 
> In the pictures you posted, it looks like there is some type of black construction paper behind all the units. What is that?


Probably covers the cable holes.


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## bsnelson (Oct 30, 1999)

LlamaLarry said:


> Brad, how do you make the master NPL?


I wrote a small C program to connect to the tytool port and fetch the list that tytool normally gets. Does it for all machines and creates the master list.

Brad


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

TXS said:


> Barry
> 
> In the pictures you posted, it looks like there is some type of black construction paper behind all the units. What is that?


The back of my rack is open but it came with a piece of "breathable" black clothlike material that velcros across the back of the rack to help hide the cables etc.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

TomK said:


> You've inspired me to paint the 'new' HDVR2s I have. I replaced the black DSR6000s I had for hacking purposes and I'm not crazy about the silver color either. Good job, Barey.


Right on. It's a fairly easy project if you don't get carried away with too much paint. The Rustoleum paint doesn't even require primer. Two light coats and then walk away... When it comes to painting stuff like this, less is definitely more. I used a heat gun to seal the paint quickly to avoid any dust or debris getting stuck in the wet paint. If you do get any specs in the paint wait until it's DRY and they will probably just brush off.

This project has a very high satisfaction to time invested ratio IF you keep it simple and take your time masking it off. Prep is everything. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Sorry it took me so long, but I finally found a time that was good to remove the TiVo from active use and swap out the case parts. Here are a series of pictures that should give you all you need to know in order to swap the case from a standalone black TiVo.

(Click on any picture to see it bigger.)

Here is the Samsung DirecTV DVR:


Here is a dead series 2 TiVo that I bought for five dollars: (the power supply is dead - I have not checked the other parts yet.)


Removing the four philips screws from the back of the Samsung:

(Slide the cover off the D*tivo and remove the access card at this point.)

Removing the four torx screws from the back of the SA tivo:


Using a case cracker to get the cover off the SA tivo:


On the SA tivo, remove the torx screw from one side of the front panel:


On the SA tivo, remove the torx screw from the other side of the front panel:


...to be continued


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Unplug the ribbon cable that connects from the logic board to the front panel, then pull the front panel off the SA tivo:


On the D*tivo, unscrew the front panel screw:


And the other one:


Detatch the ribbon cable and unsnap the front panel:


Here's the part many of you will hate. The front panel from the SA tivo will not fit correctly because the access card sticks out too far. My solution was to cut the card right at the line which is printed on it:

(After you cut off the end of the card, slide it back into your tivo's slot.)

Here is the back of the front panels from both units:


We need to swap the ribbon cables:

(and yes, the Samsung front panel will work on the SA tivo, including all the buttons.)

...to be continued


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Install the SA front panel on your D*tivo:


Secure the screw:


And the other one:


NOTE: MAKE SURE THE FRONT PANEL RIBBON CABLE IS ATTACHED. FAILURE TO DO SO CAN CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE!

Slide the cover on:


Put back the four screws:

(I chose the philips ones, but you can use the torx ones from the SA if you want. Some later model Hughes and I think all R10's have a fan that protrudes out the back and the lid design was changed, so the SA lid will not fit properly. In that case, just paint your lid black and use the SA front panel only.)

Here is the final outcome, which looks just like an SA tivo:


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## Kevin L (Jan 10, 2002)

Very cool, Arcady. Great post!


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

How much to paint my new silver hitachi 57" black?


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## willardcpa (Feb 23, 2001)

bareyb said:


> The back of my rack is open but it came with a piece of "breathable" black clothlike material that velcros across the back of the rack to help hide the cables etc.


Good idea, until some clown uses white cable ties.  
Better go find that spray can.  Or some black tape, course avoiding that is why folks use cable ties. Almost forgot, they do come in black.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

willardcpa said:


> Good idea, until some clown uses white cable ties.
> Better go find that spray can.  Or some black tape, course avoiding that is why folks use cable ties. Almost forgot, they do come in black.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Nice Arcady. That gets the job done too. :up:


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## MiamiTV (Apr 8, 2003)

nice Proceed PreAmp, how are you controlling all the tivos with out a crestron unit?


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