I noticed the rule that all times below a certain cutoff need video proof. so my question is how are runs that don't need video proof verified?

It's simple : If a Any% time have a time over 28:00 w/o proof it will be verified, otherwise not

Same thing for other categories.

Assuming we don't have a reason to suspect that your run is fake, that is.

Okay thanks for the clarification

Just so you know, all any% runs now require video so this no longer applies to any%. Other categories still have the time barrier though.