iTunes movie purchases will not play on external display - HDCP auth error

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Level 1

15 points

iTunes movie purchases will not play on external display - HDCP auth error

Hello,

Well, I'm surprised there hasn't been more of a storm over this one already but I expect there will be.

Just got a new MacBook last week and finally found a mini Display Port -> VGA adapter so i could use my 19" external display. I rented a movie from the iTunes store yesterday and when I tried to play it on my external display, it gave me a warning/error that the display was 'not an authorized HDCP display' and it would not play. Plays fine on the small MacBook screen, just nothing external. To make it even worse, i tried all the movies that I have purchased from the iTunes store with the same result... NONE of them will play on anything but the MacBook's small 13" screen. This is crazy unacceptable.

Has anyone else run into this yet or have any ideas of something I may be overlooking in order to get purchased movies to play on an external display?

Thanks!

MacBook unibody C2D 2.0/2.0/160, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Oct 26, 2008 8:12 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Al Knowles

Level 1

5 points

Nov 4, 2008 9:58 AM in response to helmsb

Same problem here as well. I guess they want to be sure we HAVE to buy an
Apple TV.

Not gonna happen.

I'll buy DVD's at my local retailer before that happens.

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Answer 2

Oct 6, 2017 2:10 PM in response to Jim Beggans

I had a totally different problem...Downloaded an HD video from Itunes and it wouldn't play on my laptop's screen even though my computer says it is HDCP compatible with an Nvidea graphics card, and 1680x1050 resolution ...Apple was easy to deal with and immediately gave me a refund but I had to watch the standard definition version of the movie and I am clueless as to what the problem was..Now I am hesitant to download Hires Itunes media....I can easily watch 720p files and higher res downloads from online with no problems generally.....Anybody have any thoughts on this one?

Thanks!,

Procol33

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Answer 3

Tarw01

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2017 11:34 AM in response to maxyourmacs

Think i've found the answer. ( Despite however old this post is!)

I went into the display settings and changed the colour profile on my external screen to the colour profile my macbook pro was using and this seemed to do the trick!

Hopefully it fixes your issue also!

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Answer 4

Oct 28, 2017 4:45 PM in response to illitrate23

This doesn't seem to be an option in the version of iTunes that I am using. The only options are: Marked Watched/Unwatched, Movie Info, Love, Dislike, Uncheck Selection, and Show movie in iTunes Store.

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Answer 5

helmsb

Level 1

0 points

Nov 1, 2008 11:07 AM in response to maxyourmacs

Same problem here. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a 30in CINEMA display if you can't watch movies on it.

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Answer 6

doh_eb

Level 1

0 points

Nov 6, 2008 10:26 PM in response to helmsb

Same here... new Macbook Air v2 w/DisplayPort and Apples own 23" Cinema display... and I can't play any TV content marked as HD... ie: more recent seasons (even though I know I downloaded both SD and HD content for the TV series).

Note that on my v1 Macbook Air I can play those same shows from that same library on my 23" Cinema display with no problems.

This is unacceptable. Here I have pure Apple products, with a digitally linked Apple display (displayport to DVI) and I cannot play video I legally purchased through iTunes. What gives Apple?

Please get this fixed soon. I should be able to play HD content through that connection... and if, for some very odd reason I cannot due to licensing it should auto-switch and allow me to play the SD version of that video (at the very least).

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Answer 7

zcam

Level 1

0 points

Nov 9, 2008 8:11 PM in response to maxyourmacs

I just ran into this same problem. This is ridiculous. I hope this gets fixed fast. I certainly won't be purchasing anything else from iTunes until this is fixed.

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Answer 8

Nov 13, 2008 7:37 AM in response to zcam

Same issue here, I miss my old macbook Pro which looked great while connected through DVI to my 46" Samsung DLP. Now my new MBP won't play rented movies, we need an update to fix this ASAP, I'll spend money elsewhere to watch movies...

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Answer 9

Gadget

Level 1

36 points

Nov 17, 2008 7:45 AM in response to vitaliylevitskiy

I doubt if this is going to be fixed. I ran into this problem this morning when trying to play "Terminator 2" just purchased from the iTunes Store on my new MBP connected to an Apple 20 inch LCD. While we are planning to purchase the new 24 inch LED displays, I can't find any word about whether they are HDCP compliant or not. Apple will be out of luck, because we will, as of today, buy no more movies from the iTunes Store. This may be part of the HDCP standard; but from my viewpoint, the standard takes the whole copyright protection thing a bit too far. If this starts hitting the TV shows and the music videos, too, then we'll stop buying them from the iTunes Store as well.

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Answer 10

iSilver

Level 1

100 points

Nov 17, 2008 4:19 PM in response to maxyourmacs

This is EXACTLY how the producers of TV and movies want things, Apple is just doing what they have to do to be able to sell these video files, i.e. following licensing rules. It's unfortunate that us users have to put up with these restrictions because of all the pirates. It's crazy though, that you can't watch a SD version of the files if not connected to the recommended HDCP monitor though, I thought that was allowable.

I think these restrictions are the larger reason why HD hasn't taken off in a big way yet, and when it does take off, there are going to be a lot of people who will not be able to play stuff without spending a lot more money on HDCP enabled monitors and other elements of their set-ups. I suppose it's a Win-Win-Lose situation for the Content Creators-HDCP Hardware manufacturers-Content Purchasers.

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Answer 11

Nov 17, 2008 8:35 PM in response to maxyourmacs

Dam, that really *****. I've got to hang on the my 3 DVI enabled Macs. I use the external display port extensively and what is the use of those ports if you can't play your content on it. I yelled and yelled when my ATV didn't like playing HDCP content over my HDMI port to the TV. I got either a grey screen or a message saying my HDMI/HDCP compliant TV is not compliant. What the *** gives, it was fine before the dam 2.x upgrade. So now I've downgraded to component. Display port issues is the last straw.

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Answer 12

Nov 17, 2008 8:38 PM in response to maxyourmacs

This makes no sense. Are these movies HD? If not, then this is probably a bug and should be reported to Apple. If they are HD, why hasn't there been an announcement about iTunes movies being HD for computers. I've only seen an announcement for AppleTV and for TV shows, not movies.

Can you tell me what resolution these movies play at? You can Get Info on the movie when it is displayed in a text list. Go to the Summary tab and read the Video Dimensions.

FWIW, I just tried the free Heroes HD TV show on my new aluminum MacBook and a 23" Dell HD display (1920x1080) and it played without any problems. The TV show is at 1280x720. In other words, 720p which is the minimum to be considered HD.

I may rent a movie later to see what happens on my HD display.

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Answer 13

Gadget

Level 1

36 points

Nov 17, 2008 8:59 PM in response to Jim Bailey

I have my iTunes library running on a network share, so I tried playing "Terminator 2" on my Mac Pro which is hooked up to an Apple 23 inch Cinema HD Display (aluminum). Worked fine there.

GET INFO on the movie showed it was playing in 640 x 272. That isn't HD, so I'm not sure what the problem is.

I bought "Total Recall" some time ago from the iTunes Store and it plays fine on everything, though the resolution there is showing as 640 x 360.

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Answer 14

Nov 17, 2008 11:13 PM in response to maxyourmacs

Remember, you can always call up your credit card company a charge this back if Apple refuses to strip the copy protection or refund all of your money.

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Answer 15

bradymac

Level 1

0 points

Nov 17, 2008 11:34 PM in response to Jim Bailey

Basically things like HD TV shows (grab the latest Heroes TV show) which have a resolution of 1280x720 (vs 640x272 for basic res movies)... the HD content cannot
play through my Display Port connector (new Macbooks, Pro's and Airs) via the DVI adapter to a Cinema display (23" in my case, can't try my 30" til I get my new dual DVI cable which still hasn't arrived). I can play the lower res movie but not the TV show. The funny thing is the TV show is supposed to be HD/SD so one would think it would auto-switch to the SD version (both were downloaded) and *at least* play that... but nope, just chokes. Note that the same "HD" TV shows played fine via the 1st gen Macbook air via the DVI cable. Definitely a bummer.

My guess is the new 24" monitor with a native displayport interface will work since it's "all native" but I think it's silly... Apple should be able to recognize displayport to DVI, especially their own cinema display... as HD ready one would hope (but obviously not at the moment).

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