While Popcorn Time continues to have its ups and downs, a new release aiming to muscle in on the famous app's patch has hit the Google Play marketplace. The team behind TVMC is billing the XBMC/Kodi based app as a safer alternative to Popcorn Time, but its availability via Google Play could be a short-lived affair. After months of prime-time exposure the various Popcorn Time apps have become some of the most talked about file-sharing applications around today. Almost every other week the application, in one guise or another, becomes a newsworthy event. However, the idea of presenting content in a pretty interface is not new. XBMC, now officially known as the Kodi Entertainment Center, has been a popular choice amongst movie and TV show fans for many years. While the app itself provides little direct access to content, a myriad of third-party plugins streamlines the process massively. That being said, in terms of simplicity Popcorn Time has the market sewn up. The straightforward install and configuration process is a snap for almost anyone and while a fully-loaded XBMC/Kodi setup beats it in many respects, getting that setup right is not easy for beginners. With that in mind the people at TVAddons think they have a solution. Currently only available on Android, TVMC is XBMC/Kodi but in a convenient and almost ready-to-go package. Once the software is installed the user is guided through a no-fail setup process to activate the main plugins that provide access to a wide range of movies, TV shows and sports. Despite the smooth setup, it’s still not quite Popcorn Time in terms of simplicity of interface, but content-wise it appears to hold all the cards with direct access to PrimeWire, Project Free TV, IceFilms, USTVnow and Veetle, among others. Legal content is available from all of these sites, but the decision of what to view will be down to the user. While Popcorn Time is BitTorrent-based, TVMC pulls content from streaming sites. This, its creators say, means their system is more secure for users. “Unlike the popular app Popcorn Time which gives you access to similar content, through torrent technology instead of streaming links, TVMC does not turn the end-user’s device into a server, it simply streams content directly from file hosts such as GorillaVid, NovaMov, Billion Uploads,” TVAddons say. The other slight advantage TVMC has over Popcorn Time is availability. Unlike its rival, TVMC is currently sitting on Google Play’s store ready for download. At $0.88 its affordable, but definitely not as cheap as the current free version of Android Popcorn Time. However, for those prepared to do a manual install, TVMC is available for free via the TVAddons site. Overall, TVMC is really XBMC for beginners but the big question now is how long the software will remain accessible on Google Play. History tells us that if it’s still downloadable this time next week, that will be a major achievement.
