Showmax does not stream Full HD

R

Reaver.ZA

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I realise there's probably not a lot of Showmax users on this forum, but want to check with you guys anyway.

I recently realised, while watching Showmax via Chrome browser (win11) on a 1080p monitor that the quality was not great.
The media internals (chrome://media-internals) page only shows a max resolution of 960x540 when having "best" quality selected.

Is this the same experience for anyone else using Showmax?

On their website they advertise (e.g. here & here) up to Full HD resolutions, i.e. 1080p right?I

And after many (frustrating) back and forth support emails they eventually just said, and I'm paraphrasing, that their platform is geared to provide Full HD and 4K content in the future, but that what I'm currently seeing is their best quality....

Isn't this blatant false advertising?? I tried sending all this to news@mybroadband but they don't seem to want to bite :(

Feeling very despondent about this. How can I as a consumer keep them accountable? Put in a false advertising claim under cpa? Feels like suck a schlep for R99/m.....
 
Reaver.ZA said:
I realise there's probably not a lot of Showmax users on this forum, but want to check with you guys anyway.

I recently realised, while watching Showmax via Chrome browser (win11) on a 1080p monitor that the quality was not great.
The media internals (chrome://media-internals) page only shows a max resolution of 960x540 when having "best" quality selected.

Is this the same experience for anyone else using Showmax?

On their website they advertise (e.g. here & here) up to Full HD resolutions, i.e. 1080p right?I

And after many (frustrating) back and forth support emails they eventually just said, and I'm paraphrasing, that their platform is geared to provide Full HD and 4K content in the future, but that what I'm currently seeing is their best quality....

Isn't this blatant false advertising?? I tried sending all this to news@mybroadband but they don't seem to want to bite :(

Feeling very despondent about this. How can I as a consumer keep them accountable? Put in a false advertising claim under cpa? Feels like suck a schlep for R99/m.....
Click to expand...

They might do what netflix and others do, when using a PC, they limit the quality so it makes piracy undesirable.
 
Found the same with Netflix, it's a ploy to push you to the higher priced subs
 
Rickster said:
They might do what netflix and others do, when using a PC, they limit the quality so it makes piracy undesirable.
Click to expand...
Not sure I follow... "limit" quality to make piracy undesirable? Even if you meant desirable, why would they purposefully want to promote piracy? :P

Anyway check here, this is what I get with Netflix, proper 1080p stream:

1732863290129.png

And with Showmax (doesn't matter which content):

1732863356321.png
 
At the very least I just want to know if anyone can validate my findings or if there's an issue on my end....
 
If you're lucky you will get a true 720P image from Showmax. No where close to 1080P
 
Sadly Showmax isn't interested in offering high picture quality, just adequate. And you also have to keep in mind that resolution doesn't necessarily hold back quality if we bring bitrate into the equation. They skimp on both.
 
Try another browser like Edge. Netflix 4K used to be limited to 720p on Chrome due to DRM. Edge used to get 1080p.

Streaming on a PC in a browser has always been weird, you need apps for the stuff to look good. Showmax on a TV app or Explora Ultra will look like 1080p.
 
NR7 said:
Try another browser like Edge. Netflix 4K used to be limited to 720p on Chrome due to DRM. Edge used to get 1080p.

Streaming on a PC in a browser has always been weird, you need apps for the stuff to look good. Showmax on a TV app or Explora Ultra will look like 1080p.
Click to expand...
Same story in Edge but I guess you're right re the dedicated apps. Will test.
 
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