This morning I discovered a thin, 4" scratch near the middle of the screen of my 3-week old Panasonic TH-42PZ85U plasma (which has been near-perfect so far). Against all sound judgement, I decided to try to repair the scratch using some Micro-Gloss liquid abrasive solution that I'd used on other similar surfaces. As you would expect, I a) only slightly repaired the scratch and b) removed the anti-glare coating around it. Now instead of having a barely-visible scratch, I have a very visible thumb-sized area on the glass with no anti-glare coating. I know I probably don't deserve it, but has anyone come across a good fix for this? I have read about or discovered two potential remedies so far:

1) GlareBuster coating spray (as seen on TV), sold on Amazon and its own website
2) Beeswax (not kidding)

I'm highly skeptical about both, since a review of the former said that it degrades the picture quality, and the latter was used to repair the anti-glare coating of a damaged CRT computer monitor (and it would be weird watching TV and knowing I'm looking through something made by bees). Any tips/advice/admonitions greatly appreciated.

Anti-glare coating repair???

Doesn't exist, it can't technically.

The greatest challenge of all is the fact that due to the way you are using this surface it has to be surface perfect. These coatings are like paint jobs yet unlike the normal concept of paint this super duper high tech coating is so thin that when you scratch it you remove all of it so it is not something you can sand out and buffing is sanding at an extremely fine level... as you figured out.

There isn't much you can do that I know of that will return it to like new condition. Something needs to be added back. The product most likely to duplicate that is the GlareBuster but it is different from what you have considering it comes in a low tech spray can and is removed with a razor blade. The beeswax is interesting but this is not a CRT with scratched and missing glass in which case the beeswax is acting as an optical putty - scratch filler. Either way it doesn't sound good either even for that application

About all you can do is change how it looks or how visible it is but it will always be visible. If the manufacturer provides the protective outer glass separately that is an option although an unfortunately expensive one.

BTW, don;t use any chemical based cleaners on anti glare coatings. Water and wiping/buffing with a soft cotton cloth or a weak mixture of a little dish soap and lots of water if needed.

Yea, that's what I figured, just wanted to see if anyone had stumbled on a good fix. It's a shame that manufacturers are producing something that so delicate--hopefully engineering advances will make it more hardy/repairable in the future.

Thanks anyways!

I am thinking this is something you might not notice if you can control the light facing the screen....but I am an old hacker - from mechanical to software and have jumped off many cliffs in attempts at long shot fixes.

That being said, IF and only if the situation was intolerable (and your credit card doesn't have a support plan for this....), perhaps polishing the whole screen would be a way out. It might take a skilled glass person but if the whole screen were evenly polished, it'd be equivalent to many Plasma screens. Of course, you'd have to control light again.

I do not recommend this as I have never done anything like this. I'd be interested in finding if anyone has though. I mean, after a set is used, or failing in some other way - but still watchable - it might be an interesting exercise.

The other way out, get a Wii, smash the controller into the screen and justify a replacement. (no not an April Fool joke - Halloween).