BUZZR on new streaming service STIRR

[chargeradiocom]

A new streaming service launched this week called STIRR. STIRR is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, one of the largest owners of local TV stations in the country.

STIRR works similarly to Pluto TV. Sinclair is using it as a platform for content from its local stations and digital networks, but is also partnering with other streaming networks to enhance the programming selection available on STIRR.

One of those partnering networks on STIRR is BUZZR.

I can confirm that BUZZR is available on STIRR on Roku. The Roku app seems to have some stability issues, but I’d assume they’ll work to fix that quickly.

STIRR also has an Amazon Fire app. No support for Chromecast yet.

[That Don Guy]

Also, to clarify: you don't have to have a Sinclair station in your local area to access it. It will ask you to choose a city when you first connect to it, but it pretty much tells you, "If you don't see your city, we suggest selecting Washington, DC, so you can get news from the capital."

[clemon79]

I'll burn in a firey hell before I support anything that comes out of Sinclair Broadcasting. Bad enough my local Jeopardy station is a Sinclair.

[WarioBarker]

Sinclair is using [STIRR] as a platform for content from its local stations and digital networks,

So all the "must run" editorials and other "news" bullcrap they thrust onto said local stations. Got it.

[Tim L]

I downloaded it last night On my Roku Stick pluses and box.  Surprised to see they have Comet and Charge! as well.  Not crazy about Sinclair owning them but you take the bad with the good..Hadnt noticed Buzzr on there yet.

[clemon79]

Not crazy about Sinclair owning them but you take the bad with the good..

Suddenly I understand so much better how Donald Trump got in the White House.

[chargeradiocom]

I downloaded it last night On my Roku Stick pluses and box.  Surprised to see they have Comet and Charge! as well.  Not crazy about Sinclair owning them but you take the bad with the good..Hadnt noticed Buzzr on there yet.

Comet and Charge are apparently both joint ventures between Sinclair and MGM, so it makes sense they’d be there.

From what I’ve seen they actually have BUZZR in a fairly high spot. It’s in the Live TV line; you may have to scroll right, but BUZZR should be the 4th or 5th channel on the list (which, out of 20 or so, isn’t bad).

I’m pleased to see BUZZR’s sudden online push the last few months (though it’s a bit odd that they still don’t have any of their own apps TMK).

[clemon79]

(though it’s a bit odd that they still don’t have any of their own apps TMK).

Why? These other aggregators seem to be more than happy to do the work for them. Seems like pretty smart business to me.

[jw2001]

I decided to check it out on STIRR and so far it hasn't had the buffering issues Pluto has. Has anybody else experienced buffering issues while watching on Pluto?

[Pyramid80]

I decided to check it out on STIRR and so far it hasn't had the buffering issues Pluto has. Has anybody else experienced buffering issues while watching on Pluto?

Yes, I have experienced buffering issues with Pluto.  The commercial breaks seem to last longer than they should too.  Meaning the Pluto banner is up for an extended amount of time.

[BrandonFG]

The commercial breaks seem to last longer than they should too.  Meaning the Pluto banner is up for an extended amount of time.

Really? On the two Pluto channels I've watched (BUZZR and MST3K), the breaks don't seem to last more than a minute or two. Either way, I take the good with the bad here, in that I get BUZZR.

[Pyramid80]

The commercial breaks seem to last longer than they should too.  Meaning the Pluto banner is up for an extended amount of time.

Really? On the two Pluto channels I've watched (BUZZR and MST3K), the breaks don't seem to last more than a minute or two. Either way, I take the good with the bad here, in that I get BUZZR.

I have had to switch channels on Pluto and then switch back to BUZZR to get it to continue with the program in progress.  I’ll have to give Stirr a chance and see if it works better for me.  I am thankful as well, since I am too far from the station tower to get it OTA.

[chargeradiocom]

(though it’s a bit odd that they still don’t have any of their own apps TMK).

Why? These other aggregators seem to be more than happy to do the work for them. Seems like pretty smart business to me.

I get your point, & don’t entirely disagree. For a lot of people, though, it’s easier to just bring up the channel you want to watch from your home screen, rather than having to open an aggregator app, wait for it to fully load, then get to the channel you want to watch.

Pretty much all the top free OTT channels (CBSN, WeatherNation, Stadium, etc) have their own apps, even though they’re also on Pluto/STIRR-type services. Many of the top cable networks offer live streaming through their own apps, even though they’re also mostly available on Sling, Vue, DirecTV Now, & the like. It’s all about getting your product out there as many ways as possible, so that as many people find it as possible.

Of course, those of us here would find our way to stream BUZZR anyway, even if it has to be through a third-party app. But we game show geeks aren’t most people.

I decided to check it out on STIRR and so far it hasn't had the buffering issues Pluto has. Has anybody else experienced buffering issues while watching on Pluto?

Occasionally, yes. Most of the time I can watch without it being a problem, but occasionally Pluto starts buffering like crazy.

That seems to be an issue with most streaming at times, though. (And it’s not necessarily an Internet connection issue, because I can tune to something else & it runs fine.) I guess it’s part of the growing pains of Internet TV. Hopefully it will improve as streaming becomes more popular.

The commercial breaks seem to last longer than they should too.  Meaning the Pluto banner is up for an extended amount of time.

Really? On the two Pluto channels I've watched (BUZZR and MST3K), the breaks don't seem to last more than a minute or two. Either way, I take the good with the bad here, in that I get BUZZR.

Yeah, I haven’t typically noticed anything odd with the length of their breaks. I think I might have seen once or twice when a show was way late coming back from break, but it was more of a one-time quirk than a repeated thing.

I’m curious, Pyramid80, what streaming device are you using?

[Pyramid80]

The commercial breaks seem to last longer than they should too.  Meaning the Pluto banner is up for an extended amount of time.

Really? On the two Pluto channels I've watched (BUZZR and MST3K), the breaks don't seem to last more than a minute or two. Either way, I take the good with the bad here, in that I get BUZZR.

Yeah, I haven’t typically noticed anything odd with the length of their breaks. I think I might have seen once or twice when a show was way late coming back from break, but it was more of a one-time quirk than a repeated thing.

I’m curious, Pyramid80, what streaming device are you using?
[/quote]
I just got a new Samsung tv, so the Pluto TV app was built in.  I also had trouble from my iPad streaming BUZZR on the Pluto TV app.  I recently downloaded STIRR on a Roku stick, and it seems to be much more stable.  I am extremely new to steaming, so some of this may be the norm.

[chargeradiocom]

I just got a new Samsung tv, so the Pluto TV app was built in.  I also had trouble from my iPad streaming BUZZR on the Pluto TV app.  I recently downloaded STIRR on a Roku stick, and it seems to be much more stable.  I am extremely new to steaming, so some of this may be the norm.

I haven’t used Samsung TV apps so I can’t speak about those. I haven’t had any issues to speak of with Pluto on iPad, though I haven’t used it a ton.

There do seem to be some differences with streaming apps between platforms, though—and not necessarily related just to Pluto or BUZZR. For example, I have Roku on one TV and Chromecast on another, and have never been able to run either CBSN or WeatherNation through the Pluto app on Chromecast. For that matter, lately I haven’t been able to run CBSN or WeatherNation on Chromecast through their own apps either. Whereas I’ve never had those problems on Roku. (FWIW, I’m able to run those channels on Chromecast through other apps.) And of course, there was the whole deal where for weeks BUZZR on Pluto was available on virtually every device except Roku.

There are a lot of pieces that can affect streaming—programming differences between apps, programming differences between devices, the age & OS of your own device, your Internet connection (& any external factors that might be affecting it), the source’s Internet connection, and probably other things I’m not thinking of. Like I said, I think some of it is growing pains. But streaming has improved since it first became a thing, and I expect it will continue to improve as streaming and cord cutting become more popular.

At least BUZZR is working for you on STIRR, though.