It’s a challenge to provide a top tier video streaming service across Africa. Quality internet networks are few and far between, server locations are often not ideal (we need to connect very distant countries), peering points are limited, and every... »
Here at Showmax, it’s not all about using third party CDNs. We have our own servers for serving content as well, so the constant question is: “How do we balance all the traffic?” In the past, we used a solution with modulo. To use modulo, we converted... »
Video on Demand (VOD) platforms usually support a wide range of devices. Despite the attempts to unify streaming protocols, DRMs, and other parts of the tech stack, it’s almost impossible to have only one playlist/manifest that fits everyone. The... »
On our blog we usually discuss our work in pretty in-depth terms, or terms that we set on our own. At times, we may speak a language that is unfamiliar, or even unintelligible, to some people. So, we decided to put together a vocabulary resource to... »
Recently, our Media Engineering team participated in the Demuxed 2020 conference for video engineers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was held virtually for the first time, but that didn’t stop 27 renowned speakers from sharing their expertise... »
Showmax delivers a top-shelf VOD service across the African continent. On top of Hollywood hits, TV series, and local telenovelas, we offer news, music and live sports. Here on the Showmax tech blog, we write about the many challenges that we encounter... »