tv Micro scratches after polishing my Samsung QN90B 50 inch TV. What to do next? .

[Wolf0202]

Long read so be ready:

 

 

I use my TV as the display for my media PC and sometimes I laugh, caugh or sneeze or talk and I leave small drops of saliva in the screen. After cleaning the screen with a microfiber cloth microfiber cloth (same used to clean eye glasses) and water, there was a stain in it that turned out to be either the Anti Reflective Coating of it or the Ultra Viewing Angle layer being removed. It was pretty visible when the TV was off or it was displaying fully black content with any other source of light in the room. I got this TV because of the great black levels it can produce and how bright it is for living rooms. 

 

I decided I would rather take consistency than keeping it the way it was and I tried different types of materials to rub the layer out, from softest to roughest. The one that gave me the best result was Paper Towels, the same you most likely use in the kitchen to clean stuff. 

 

It was taking way too much time and a lot of elbow grease so I actually used a polishing machine and put paper towels in the disc to complete the task. 

 

The result is a super glassy finish which I really like a lot. However, not everything is great because under some heavy heavy light you can see some micro scratches that look like smudge. It is not noticeable in a regular use but I can't take my mind off it and would like to finish the job with great success. 

 

I am thinking on either applying an oleophobic coating to the entire TV or buy another antireflective/protective film to get rid of the micro scratches. Similar to when the glue of the protective film of a phone fills the gaps created by a scratch with your nail due to a lot of use. 

 

I wanted to know if someone has applied an oleophobic coating in something big like an iPad or a table to know if it's feasible in a 50 inch TV and maintain a consistent application without more stains, smudges or something like that or if someone has any other recommendation. 

 

I will add pictures that show the 

1.- Half way done process with napkins and hand work.

2.- Finished job while playing Warzone that show it's almost impossible to see 

3.- Me polishing the actual screen in case you have any doubt. 

4.- Picture with flash showing the "smudges" 

 

I hope someone from Linus Tech Tips team sees this and thinks of it as a great project for a video. Crazy ways or ways to remove a scratch from your screen and compare results. 

[thrasher_565]

tv probly fuged... the tv dose not have glass like a phone so no you cant polish it...

[Wolf0202]

Clearly someone that failed to read the story.

 

How is it "fudged" if it works completely fine? It is clarified in the text.

 

Can I please get some actual insights instead of useless comments such as this? 

 

Thank you community.

5 minutes ago, thrasher_565 said:

tv probly fuged... the tv dose not have glass like a phone so no you cant polish it...

 

[Wolf0202]

By the way just to make this clear. I do NOT recommend doing this as it is experimental and couldn't find an actual thread on how to remove scratches from a screen m besides Vaseline (which doesn't work), paint thinner, magic eraser (couldn't find it in Mexico I think), etc. 

 

Thanks

[Blue4130]

Since the damage is already done, I'd take the bezel off, tape off the edges and use car polishing compound to try and buff out the marks.

[saintlouisbagels]

18 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Since the damage is already done, I'd take the bezel off, tape off the edges and use car polishing compound to try and buff out the marks.

I agree with this. You already went through the effort of polishing the screen with an "abrasive" paper towel. Just go all the way continue further up with finer grit papers and compounds. I wonder if a "magic eraser" would be finer grit than a paper towel? Otherwise look up online the finest grit pads you can find for your polisher along with finishing compound.

Try the Lake Country finishing pads or the Rupes BigFood finishing pads lol.

[Eigenvektor]

23 minutes ago, Wolf0202 said:

Hey LTT team you should not cool a PC with fire, you should not try to repair your own Mac Pro, you should definitely not try to repair your own battery packs... You should delete those videos because no one should do that.

You realize that most of these videos are there for entertainment purposes? They are not guides you're supposed to follow and often do things that are completely unpractical.

 

If the coating on your monitor's panel is damaged, there's likely very little you can do to repair that. You can try removing all of it, but more likely than not you're just going to make the issue worse. You'd have to take care to evenly remove all of it, then even reapply a new layer, both of which are next to impossible to do by hand, without the right equipment and experience.

 

2 hours ago, Wolf0202 said:

I hope someone from Linus Tech Tips team sees this and thinks of it as a great project for a video. Crazy ways or ways to remove a scratch from your screen and compare results.

There's a dedicated thread for video suggestions

 

[Bananasplit_00]

Only thing I can think off is using some finishing compound for car paint. Might work, it's ment to remove what's left after cutting which is what you did with the paper towel kinda

[LogicalDrm]

*** Thread cleaned ***

 

Pointless bickering removed. If you have issues with any post, please report. Any other posts are considered backseat moderation and thus removed on sight.

[Wolf0202]

8 hours ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

Only thing I can think off is using some finishing compound for car paint. Might work, it's ment to remove what's left after cutting which is what you did with the paper towel kinda

Ok I never thought of that. You might be onto something, there is probably something that is very fine and can create that glass finish. I've seen videos showing how awesome some shops can do the paint of a car to the point is a mirror. 

 

Thank you! 

 

9 hours ago, saintlouisbagels said:

I agree with this. You already went through the effort of polishing the screen with an "abrasive" paper towel. Just go all the way continue further up with finer grit papers and compounds. I wonder if a "magic eraser" would be finer grit than a paper towel? Otherwise look up online the finest grit pads you can find for your polisher along with finishing compound.

Try the Lake Country finishing pads or the Rupes BigFood finishing pads lol.

Thank you for being specific about brands! I've never heard about Magic Erasers here in Mexico but maybe I can ship some via Amazon or something same with the grit pads! Appreciate it! 

 

8 hours ago, Eigenvektor said:

You realize that most of these videos are there for entertainment purposes? They are not guides you're supposed to follow and often do things that are completely unpractical.

 

If the coating on your monitor's panel is damaged, there's likely very little you can do to repair that. You can try removing all of it, but more likely than not you're just going to make the issue worse. You'd have to take care to evenly remove all of it, then even reapply a new layer, both of which are next to impossible to do by hand, without the right equipment and experience.

 

There's a dedicated thread for video suggestions

 

You don't have the entire context on why I commented what I commented. Someone was pretty much asking for the thread to be locked because you "shouldn't do that to a TV" and I mentioned a couple of DIY repair things Linus has recorded that are of course outside of warranty as well as mods.  

 

Appreciate the link to the thread about video suggestions. 

[Eigenvektor]

4 minutes ago, Wolf0202 said:

Someone was pretty much asking for the thread to be locked because you "shouldn't do that to a TV" and I mentioned a couple of DIY repair things Linus has recorded that are of course outside of warranty as well as mods. 

I did read that comment and I don't necessarily agree with the call to close this thread, even though a proper solution is unlikely.

 

What I'm saying is, there's a difference between someone accidentally messing up and searching for an actual fix and a YouTube channel purposely doing crazy stunts for views. What LTT does is pure entertainment, which earns them money. Your situation on the other hand is a costly mistake that is unlikely to have a proper DIY solution.

[Wolf0202]

2 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

I did read that comment and I don't necessarily agree with the call to close this thread, even though a proper solution is unlikely.

 

What I'm saying is, there's a difference between someone accidentally messing up and searching for an actual fix and a YouTube channel purposely doing crazy stunts for views. What LTT does is pure entertainment, which earns them money. Your situation on the other hand is a costly mistake that is unlikely to have a proper DIY solution.

My costly mistake is an experiment. I have the money and I can buy another TV like this if I wanted to. But now I'm seriously thinking twice about it due to this "coating" they have that can easily be damaged by just cleaning it with water and a microfiber cloth vs just an actual glass that I've spotted on some OLEDs that is most likely more resistant than this.

 

I am using this TV to look for a possible solution someone else can follow as there are complaints about the same problem in Samsung forums but no solution and I have a similar model on another room where an accident with maybe family visits or anything else can lead to another scratch. This is what it seems to be uncharted territory since everyone would say "apply warranty" or take it to an official Samsung repair shop for an expensive repair close to the value of a new TV (I checked).

 

If I am most likely already going to spend money then at least I can have some fun with it and learn something and share it.

[thrasher_565]

telling some one that using paper towel works to polish a tv is just bs that the problem i have. if your tv was broken before hand and want to try ship then thats fine... BUT DONT SAY IT WORKS....

 

was there less abrasive options you could have tried first probly. you can buy a 50" tv for like $400 so...

 

once i tried the tooth past to fix a scratch in a cd and well it did not work who new... i also had a dvd cleaned and a movie store that also didn't work... but one movie store had this expensive record player thing and did fix the scratches so its posable to fix.

 

 

[Wolf0202]

So I want to update everyone.

 

I recently got two screen cleaners from a local store. It's a Mexican brand as far as I know called Steren and they had two screen cleaners and well... It worked like a charm. My guess is that the micro scratches were not micro scratches but just left overs of the Anti Reflective Coating. It is now fully glass like finish. 

 

I have attached a video showing how it looks with both the Xbox Series X and the PC. Please keep in mind the phone camera blows the brightness a little bit as my window reflected in the TV is not THAT bright but I think it shows the end result pretty well! 

 

Thanks to all the suggestions I appreciate it. 

[saintlouisbagels]

On 3/31/2024 at 4:08 PM, Wolf0202 said:

So I want to update everyone.

 

I recently got two screen cleaners from a local store. It's a Mexican brand as far as I know called Steren and they had two screen cleaners and well... It worked like a charm. My guess is that the micro scratches were not micro scratches but just left overs of the Anti Reflective Coating. It is now fully glass like finish. 

 

I have attached a video showing how it looks with both the Xbox Series X and the PC. Please keep in mind the phone camera blows the brightness a little bit as my window reflected in the TV is not THAT bright but I think it shows the end result pretty well! 

Very cool!

I'm currently running an Apple Studio Display with no AR coating and a Samsung Neo G8 with a heavy AR coating.

 

man, the SDR Studio Display blows the HDR Neo G8 out of the water. It doesn't even compare.

[Stahlmann]

OLED enthusiasts like me have been saying it for years. A glossy glass display will always look better than a matte anti-reflective coating. You have to account more for ambient light to reduce mirror-like reflections, but if your environment allows for it, a glossy display will just look clearer with more pop in the colors.

 

But man, I never thought someone would have the guts to sand off the screen coating. I would never recommend this to anyone. Just buy a glossy screen in the first place.

[e22big]

Late to the party but I think if it's just a micro scratch, then maybe just using a screen protector film would help, especially if you've already polished it to a mirror finish. It's a trick I used on a phone that can hide micro scratches and any imperfection very well, I imagine it would be available as car accessories or something.