When I got my Dell 3007 monitor 3 years ago I was a fan of matte screen monitors. I didn't like the glare that glossy monitors had and matte looked good to me. Though at the time I hadn't really had any matte screen monitors for long.

I'm not sure if over time my preferences for matte screen changed, did I develop a distaste for anti-glare coating, but I'm pretty sure the anti-glare coating on my Dell monitor had progressively gotten worse. These days I can clearly see noise and tiny glitter like effects when I look closely at the screen. Text doesn't look as good and some odd distortion has appeared on the right side of the screen (usually only noticeable when a solid color is displayed there).

After reading some mods of other users removing their anti-glare coating, I decided to give it a try. First I needed a guinea pig to test on first. So I pulled out the first LCD monitor I ever owned, a Samsung 225BW. I accidentally dropped something on my desk that bounced up and cut a small gouge in the 22 inch monitor's screen. So if I ruined it, no loss.

I removed the plastic case, pretty much took everything off, including the back light (a mistake) and lad the LCD panel down on a towel, and laid damp paper towels on the front LCD screen. Keeping the paper towels wet, let it sit for 4 hours. Then I was able to peal off a thin plastic sheet that was the anti-glare coating.

I reassembled the monitor the 22 inch monitor and soon discovered why removing the glass from the backlight was a mistake. I turned on the monitor and saw a bit of dust between the back and LCD. But other than that, it looked much better without the coating and I was encouraged I could do this with my 30 inch monitor.

This is the thread that inspired me to give this a try...
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=878149

And this YouTube video assisted me with disassembling the 3007.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Z8-eYknmc

I did not have to take off all the controller boards like with the other monitor. After removing the plastic case (being very careful to disconnect the power button with it's long thin cable) I was able to remove the aluminum frame around the LCD panel while leaving most of the parts attached to the back.

I laid down the damp paper towels, two layers thick, and carefully sprayed them every hour. Never let them get so wet they drip (don't want water going into the monitor of course). Waited for hours, and just like with the 22 inch monitor, the plastic coating pealed off quite easily.

The monitor is now back together and on. And OH MY GOD, it's has never looked so good. I think I'm a glossy monitor convert now. The noise and sparkle effect is gone, everything is so clear. I literally just removed a cloudy film of plastic from the screen and now colors, contrast, and everything just looks so much better. I love my monitor again. And it was surprisingly easy.

You should never remove the anti-gravity coating. It will crash.

 

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A side effect of this is it's possible to damage the polarizer layer. In fact it seems quite easy to damage. This could be done by soaking it too long. Removing the AG film horizontally, removing the AG film too quick, or cleaning up left over adhesive from the screen.

I seem to have damaged the polarizer layer, because I see very thin horizontal lines or grains they call them. From a normal distance you can barely see them, up close on a white background they are easy to see. I don't think I saw them at first, so I don't think I over soaked or pulled the film of correctly. But I had some left over adhesive from the film on the screen that was quite difficult to move and after trying to clean that off is when I first noticed the grains. They say I should have immediately tried to clean the adhesive off right after removing the film (of course this vital information was on page 3 and not in the original post).

It's not perfect and ya'll know how I am about not perfect. But it's a 3 year old monitor and it does still look a lot better than before. So I'm still happy I did it.

I've sent an email to these guys...
http://moniserv.com/doc/panelrepair.html

They repair polarizing films on monitors. Someone quoted a $270 price to fix it (the post was 2 years old). And the website does show $270 repair price for 26-32 inch monitors/TVs, but a sale price of $125 currently. So that would be heck of a deal if I could have them replace the polarizer layer for just $125 and hopefully they can add a protective layer to replace the protection lost from the AG film.

No Before and After pics? No pics of you concentrating on carefully peeling the skin off your monitor with beads of sweat budding on your forehead?

.. wonder if I should do this with my Dell 2407. I have a feeling that getting it all glossy might mess up with my amateur photo-editing.

 

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Well after doing this and knowing what I know now... I probably would not have done it. Removing the anti-glare layer exposes the polarization layer to very likely damage while cleaning, assuming you get lucky and not damage it removing the anti-glare layer. I damaged mine trying to clean the glue residue off, others damaged theirs months later just with casual cleaning. The polarization layer no longer has the protection it had before.

This guy found and bought a clear layer to place ontop of the polarization layer and it seems like it wasn't difficult to put on. But unfortunately for him, he had already damaged the polarization layer by removing the anti-glare layer.
http://www.overclock.net/t/908334/glossy-u2711-mod/40

For me, it was worth the risk, mostly because I already purchased a new monitor to replace this Dell 3007 (I'll post about the replacement when it arrives this week). My monitor was over 3 years old, out of warranty, and I felt I got my money's worth out of it, so if I messed up, I wouldn't have to hang myself. I wouldn't dare try this on a new monitor that I valued much.

The monitor does look much better without the anti-glare coating. Of course there is a lot of glare now too. The polarization damage is kinda bugging me though. This monitor is going to be a secondary monitor, so I may leave it just as it is though. However I'm considering getting it fixed if it costs less than $300 (still emailing the moniserv.com guys about the details of their service).


Sorry no pics. Was going to do it, then once I started working, kinda forgot.

Hehe, you should just strip the polarization layer off completely, then buy some polarizer glasses. The screen will be completely white and only you will be able to see what's on it wearing the glasses.

*Queue super-spy tune.*

 

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