LCD vs CRT vs Plasma Peak Brightness @ 100 IRE FULL SCREEN

I think some LCDs can go up to 200 ftl, though that wouldn't be pleasant to watch and would probably not give good blacks (since the backlight would be turned way up). They perform the same on a full screen pattern as a window pattern.

I'm guessing that you'd be surprised how close their luminances would turn out when each is properly calibrated for the same viewing environment. A too-bright picture is a too-bright picture, whether from a plasma, LCD, or CRT. Once each display has been set up with correct grayscale, the same gamma, good blacks along with good shadow detail, and no eyestrain in the same environment, their luminances at 100% are likely to be within a few ftL of each other.

basically you want about 30ftl or 100-120cd/m for medium light controlled veiwing.

150-200cd/m for bright light.

plasma, LCD and CRT are all capable of the 30ftl number, most CRTs and all plasma and LCDs can hit the high number as well.

Bear in mind that both CRTs and plasmas will tend to have peak white limiters which clamp down on the brightness of high APL images. That may be why you're getting such different readings with the window versus fullscreen 100% white tests on the 111 FD. Expect to see a similar phenomena on most CRTs.

This is less common on LCDs (which is another reason they tend to appear brighter next to other techs in stores, especially when displaying high APL images). So the fullscreen 100% luminosity test may measure as bright, or even brighter than the 100% window test on an LCD, due to the dynamic contrast routines on the display.

The contrast and black levels are also dramatically degraded on CRTs with high APLs due to internal reflection and haloing, with the contrast ratio dropping to perhaps as little as 200:1, or even lower. So both LCDs and plasma displays will generally hold their blacks and contrast better than CRTs on high APL images. That's why both LCDs and plasmas seem to have more depth and punch on brighter scenes than CRTs.

I disagree that 30 ftl is good for medium light controlled environments, though I recognize that it is extremely subjective and it may be fine for some people. I also know it's the THX standard for light controlled rooms. Most of my customers and I like about 40-50 ftl white window in medium light controlled environments. The measuring meter can vary, with the i1Pro and other spectros sometimes giving quite different luminance numbers than some of the pod based meters.
With the i1Pro meter, I typically can get about 38-45 ftl from a Sony XBR960 CRT, 50-55 ftl from some other brighter direct view CRTs, 40-50 ftl from most plasmas, and up to 70-80 from a typical LCD (though I usually turn the backlight down to get it to a more reasonable level unless it's in a very bright room).

I find 30 fL-35 fL "just right" for viewing in a DARK room (I have no idea what is meant by 'medium light-controlled room'). Turn on even 1 lamp and you may find yourself wanting more luminance. With sunlight coming in a window or two, you'll want all the luminance you can get.

There are some LCDs that cannot be "turned down" to get luminance as low as 30-35 fL... that would piss me off. If the minimum luminance level you could set was, say 45 fL... that is annoyingly bright when there are no lights on in the room (measurements taken with a Konica-Minolta CS-200 meter which is quite accurate for this type of measurement).

Of course, all of these measurements should be taken with a 100% white window to get a reasonable representation of the peak white level you will see in actual video content (though it won't matter for the LCD, may as well be consistent).

It really depends on the brightness of the backlight.

I've seen an LCD panel that can hit something like 2,500 footlamberts. Yes, that's 2,500.