[noncoml]

> their streaming service normally seems very solid

Not trying to downplay their complexity, but last I heard Netflix is splitting the shows in small data chunks and just serves them as static files.

Live streaming is a different beast

[astrange]

That's how streaming (usually) works. The main URL is a playlist of transport stream files and it just downloads them in the background as you go.

[treflop]

Static files have been pretty much the standard streaming protocols for both VOD and live for the last 15 years ago. Before, it was Adobe Flash (RTMP).

With the way that they are designed, you can even use a regular CDN.

[adrr]

You can push these files to all the edges before you release the content which will protect your origin. Livestream all your edge servers are grabbing content from the origin unless you have another tier of regional servers to alleviate load.

[treflop]

Sure but that’s why your edge servers do request collapsing. And there are full blown CDN companies that will write an enterprise contract with you that can do this stuff with ease. Akamai is like 25 years old now.

Scale has increased but the techniques were figured out 20 years ago. There is not much left to invent in this space at the current moment so screwing up more than once is a bit unacceptable.