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

Is anyone having trouble using Front Row on an external Monitor, or is it limited to playing via itunes? I am looking at buying a mac mini when they refresh it (hopefully in Macworld 09). If this problem continues I just might buy a current model. Thanks

I've experienced this also. It was pretty annoying.

I think the proper response is to stop purchasing DVD and BLU-RAY
discs altogether. Until the Movie industry abandons
content protection schemes like HDCP, I feel no guilt
about bootlegging.

HDCP is really, really evil. In years past you could plug-n-play video
equipment in any oddball combination you wanted. Now if you want
to support HD, everything has to support HDCP in & out. There's just
one small problem - not much equipment actually supports HDCP.

I find it disturbing and something of a legal challenge that Apple fails to address this issue in the Terms of Service or Terms of Sale for Itunes: "HDMI. An HDCP connection is required in order to view movies (purchased or rented) and TV shows transmitted over HDMI." HDCP is not mentioned anyway else in the Terms of Service or the Terms of Sale for the Itunes store.

According to the VESA DisplayPort website, in order for a computer to use dongles, it must be a multimode display port implementation which according to their interoperability guide separates HDMI mode from DVI/VGA mode from DisplayPort mode. (www.displayport.org/open/Interoperability.htm) Since the Macbook / Pro / Air are not using HDMI interfaces with the VGA or DVI dongles it seems that Apple has expanded the usage limitations of the Itunes product without updating their published usage terms.

While is widely understood that HDMI and DisplayPort modes incorporate HDCP, it is new that VGA or DVI would require HDCP compliant peripherals as it is well known that Apple own Cinema display are not HDCP compliant today.

It is imperative that Apple address this customer concern with NEW terms of service (which will require them to offer some remedy for existing purchases) and clarify that HDCP is a now a standard part of their products regardless of which mode of the DisplayPort is in use.

What about home movies you are editing and want to play on your TV? Does this issue apply to that situation too?

This issue will not only stop me upgrading to a new MacBook, I'm not going to use iTunes for movies full stop.

This was bound to happen!
I'm a little surprised you guys haven't heard about HDCP, It's been in every HDTV for about the past 5 years..
It's the main reason HDMI isn't always as seamless as it should be. Every device has to handshake to the display.
The content doesn't necessarily have to be "HD" to be required to follow the rules, most "up-converting" DVD players wont up-convert to non HDCP enabled displays. If they don't see HDCP, they'll just output 480p.. 😉

Yes, it is the fault of the studios... Apple has no incentive to anger it's customers. The studios and specifically Microsoft are the ones pushing the HCPI passthrough of copy protection in an attempt to close the "Analog hole" and keep themselves in power when they are increasingly irrelevant.

I myself have purchased music or a movie online, so that I do legally own it and have given the artist their due, and then downloaded the DRM free version to actually use as it was often higher quality and less hassle.

To be fair to Apple... Microsoft has this exact same issue with HD content, **** they are the ones invented the DRM that is causing this.

<Edited by Moderator>

The problem described on this thread only happens to stuff you purchase on iTunes.

Word to the wise!

<Edited by Moderator>

This really is disconcerting. I use a projector to view movies in my home theater setup, and this breaks my ability to do that with iTunes.

So Apple, if you are going to make iTunes useless for me, will you allow me to uninstall it?

I used to work in video production and I've always loved Apple and Quicktime, but with this trash implemented in quicktime, now I am not so sure.

The users that really stuck with Apple through the dark years were video production users, and now Apple has doubly screwed them with HDCP and yet another $30 dongle to buy when mini dvi was fine, and also stripping out firewire from the new macbooks.

I have really had my confidence shaken in the company lately. For the first time in years, I am not so sure that they are offering good products anymore. The latest version of Ubuntu is very nice and doesn't come with a bunch of software I don't want, and hardware restrictions that are simply ridiculous.

To be fair, Vista supports HDCP as well. It is really a problem of content rather than technology, but Apple didn't need to support more DRM that makes it technology difficult to use.

More hassles than necessary didn't used to be the Apple way. The company seams to be trending that direction now though. I don't know how we can save them. We probably can't, but it is sad that just when they appear to have a lot of potential they are screwing it up.

This is why Apple doesn't have the number one market share. Like a politician who keeps hurting his constituents, I can only hang with them for so long.

It's sad, but I have almost given up on them lately. I hate to post this. I have always encouraged people to buy Apple machines. This is really sad.

I wouldn't even care if my resolution was docked down a bit, just as long as it played. This is robbery. If you paid for it, you should be able to watch it where you like... on your 23" cinema display for example.

So Apple, if you are going to make iTunes useless for me, will you allow me to uninstall it?

Drag it to the trash. Not difficult at all.
Why are you still using only 10.5.1? You are 4 releases behind.

I still can't believe they're doing this... I doubt you'd run into this issue on just about any PC on the market running iTunes! This is really hurting the Mac hardware image. Great hardware but you can't put it to use in the ways most folks would want to, so what's the point? This will keep me from buying a new Macbook Pro as much as I want to with the sexy new hardware.

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Just my two cents...

I think they've just done this. I missed the NBC shows last night due to local football broadcast. Buying them today gave me a new TOS, part of which mentioned HDCP requirement.

I bought them anyway, here's hoping they play on my TV. This is sad if not. It was really an elegant thing they had.

DisplayPort supports two different content protection systems -- HDCP and DPCP. The reporting so far has been vague on which one Apple is using.

If it's HDCP, then you should be able to use any of the many HDCP-equipped display options (don't get me wrong, I'm not making excuses for Apple, just trying to figure out how bad this is). If it's DPCP, on the other hand, then it may be much worse. Other than Apple's own forthcoming DisplayPort line of monitors, I'm not aware of any displays that have implemented DPCP.

Can anyone perform this test: using the DP-to-DVI dongle, connect the Macbook to a monitor or projector that supports HDCP on its DVI input, and tell us whether the balky iTunes purchases will play? (note: you could also try this with an HDMI display, but if it fails, we can't be sure whether it's the extra adapter or the HDCP that is causing the problem).

Yep... Same deal here. I got this issue with Hellboy II. Another foolish copy protection scheme gone wrong. Who ever heard of not using an external display on a notebook?? But you know something? I'm not condoning piracy but this is exactly what causes this to happen. If they give you a digital copy with the DVD (Like my Hellboy II I just bought from Amazon) It should be able to play on an external monitor.