This paper discusses the relative importance of various perceptual att
ributes in overall perceived picture quality while using some current
television sets. The experiments included six 28-in. television sets v
arying in spatial resolution, color reproduction, peak luminance, and
luminance contrast. Observers were asked to judge 15 perceptual attrib
utes on the television sets using a 10-point categorical scale. Multid
imensional scaling procedures were applied to the data in order to fin
d clusters of attributes and to obtain a graphical representation of t
he results. Relating to the physical changes as applied in this experi
ment, it was found that color rendering was the most important factor
in the comparison, favoring a more reddish color setting, followed by
perceived sharpness. When subjects do not like the color rendition of
a television set, other differences between the sets are not considere
d relevant by them unless these differences are substantial. Thus, the
relationships between average scores found for the quality-related at
tributes and physical quantities as measured on the television sets we
re influenced by perceived color differences between the sets.