Extracting and processing video content encoded in a rendered color space to be emulated by an ambient light source, using perceptual rules for intelligent dominant color selection. Steps include quantizing the video color space; performing dominant color extraction by using a mode, median, mean, or weighted average of pixel chromaticities; applying perceptual rules to further derive dominant chromaticities via [1] chromaticity transforms; [2] a weighted average using a pixel weighting function influenced by scene content; and [3] extended dominant color extraction where pixel weighting is reduced for majority pixels; and [4] transforming the dominant color chosen to the ambient light color space using tristimulus matrices. A color of interest can be further analyzed to produce a true dominant color, and past video frames can guide selection of dominant colors in future frames.