Video Quality
The desired picture quality must exhibit sharp, stable, and uninterrupted visuals, ensuring smooth movement and consistent color reproduction, particularly in rendering skin tones. It should be devoid of excessive noise, black loss, highlight compression, digital artifacts, and both horizontal and vertical aliasing. Additionally, the display should be free from unwanted signals such as hum, ringing, and moiré patterns to maintain optimal viewing conditions.
Audio Quality
The audio quality shouldn’t have any unwanted signals like clicks, hum, noise, and distortion. Microphones should be positioned correctly to prevent peak distortion and minimize background noise. Audio levels should be appropriate for the scene, with a controlled dynamic range and smoothly mixed edited material. Stereo audio must be balanced to eliminate phase differences that could lead to cancellation when played in mono.
Image and Capture Best Practices
To ensure the content matches our standards and captivates our audience, AJ360 insists that 90% of a program’s total runtime must be filmed with approved cameras (refer to the Approved Cameras section) following specific capture guidelines. However, for nonfiction content, there’s more leeway with this requirement.
To comply with AJ360’s image capture standards, please adhere to the following capture settings:
| Resolution | Minimum of 3840 x 2160 4K (UHD) |
| Codec | Lightly Compressed or Uncompressed RAW or |
| Bit Depth | 10-Bit or Greater |
| Data Rate | Minimum 240Mbps at 24FPS |
| Color Space | Scene-referred Color Space (SONY S.Gamut3, ALEXA Wide Gamut, REDWideGamut etc.) |
| Transfer Function | Scene-referred Log Profiles (Slog3, Log C, Log3G10, VLog etc.) |
| Metadata | Minimum Project information, File naming convention, Accurate Date and Time |
Black Balancing / Black Shading
Black balancing, sometimes referred to as black shading, of a camera’s sensor should be performed regularly in accordance with manufacturer provided guidance. For optimal results, please allow the camera to reach its normal operating temperature prior to performing the sensor calibration. The black balancing/shading procedure defines an imaging system’s proper black level given its current operating state and may reduce the visibility of misbehaving pixels while operating under fluctuating temperature ranges. To ensure this process is performed correctly, please refer to the instructions in your camera’s operating manual.