Television Receiver White Color: A Comparison of Picture Quality with White References of 9300 K and D6500

Although there are no industry standards, the white reference for television receivers in the U.S.A. is generally intended to be in the vicinity of a blackbody radiator at 9300 K. This relatively high color temperature (compared with other "white" colors in our environment) is partly a legacy from monochrome television (the color of "bright" phosphors), but even more it is a result of the compromise between brightness and color required in the past by the available phosphors in color receivers. For example, for a particular phosphor combination in shadow-mask receivers, the electrically desirable condition of equal drives to the three electron beams resulted in the 9300-K color. It appears that colorimetric fidelity has not been a primary factor in the choice of receiver white color. The dominating factor has been a desire for high brightness.