maxyourmacs

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

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  • by MDTV,

    MDTV MDTV Nov 18, 2008 8:57 AM in response to xmatt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 8:57 AM in response to xmatt
    I would suggest that people don't buy the shows and movies on iTunes - Apple should get the message that way!
  • by norman56,

    norman56 norman56 Nov 18, 2008 9:01 AM in response to iSilver
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 9:01 AM in response to iSilver
    iSilver wrote:
    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.



    You might wish to think about the causality implied by that comment. One could argue that the pirates exist, or are at least are encouraged, because of the restrictions put on content by the studios/distributors that make it inconvenient for would-be legal users.
  • by macnewbySF,

    macnewbySF macnewbySF Nov 18, 2008 10:17 AM in response to xmatt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 10:17 AM in response to xmatt
    I'm a journalist trying to get a handle on this situation. If someone wouldn't mind explaining it to me for a story I'm working on asap please email me at elinor dot mills at cnet dot com. Thanks.
  • by Peachey,

    Peachey Peachey Nov 18, 2008 10:39 AM in response to maxyourmacs
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 10:39 AM in response to maxyourmacs
    One of the many reasons people hate vista...now on your mac.

    Nice work apple
  • by Gadget,

    Gadget Gadget Nov 18, 2008 10:53 AM in response to Peachey
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 10:53 AM in response to Peachey
    I have also verified that the same thing will happen with HD TV Shows off of iTunes. The saving grace here is that you get HD and SD versions of the shows when you buy the HD's and iTunes seems to automatically pick the right one for the system you're running. For you to trigger off the message using a display that's not HDCP compliant, you have to use Finder and launch the HD file from there.
  • by Jim Bailey,

    Jim Bailey Jim Bailey Nov 18, 2008 10:55 AM in response to bradymac
    Level 3 (753 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 10:55 AM in response to bradymac
    People are reporting this on non-HD movies though. That seems likely to be a bug. No studio should be enabling HDCP on SD movies. I doubt that it is intentional.

    As for TV shows, Apple made a big deal about HD TV shows being available. It seems very unlikely that they don't want those running on new MacBooks and MacBook Pros with external monitors. Since not a single LED 24" Display has shipped, 100% of all HD TV shows will not play on external monitors right now if this is intentional. It seems unlikely to me that is Apple's intent.
  • by xmatt,

    xmatt xmatt Nov 18, 2008 1:17 PM in response to Gadget
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 1:17 PM in response to Gadget
    I wouldn't consider that a saving grace! I'm often connecting my mac to external displays *specifically because I want to watch HD content on them*. You could argue that silently dropping back to poor resolution is better than nothing, but it's certainly not what I would expect when I've paid for high quality content that I'm simply attempting to watch with standard viewing hardware.
  • by elan360,

    elan360 elan360 Nov 18, 2008 1:18 PM in response to maxyourmacs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 1:18 PM in response to maxyourmacs
    This is an issue for projectors as well. Our company has decided to hold off on buying any new macbooks due to the lack of firewire. We may still buy some macbook pros, but no standard macbooks, which is what I was sending out to my sales guys. This is a real problem for those of us that use macbooks at home. What are you thinking Apple? Do you really think that ******* off your sys admins is going to help you long term? I am seriously becoming more and more jaded. And I have always loved macs.
  • by bradymac,

    bradymac bradymac Nov 18, 2008 1:50 PM in response to Gadget
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 1:50 PM in response to Gadget
    I don't see that... mine pops the msg up and then leaves the screen
    blank and plays nothing (I have both the HD and the SD content). I
    would have expected what you say to happen (play the SD version if
    it can't play the HD version) but it does not. The only
    difference is perhaps that I have my iTunes files/database on an
    Infrant network appliance/drive (exported via apple's protocol, not
    NFS or SMB). Even if I open the SD version in Finder directly it
    will still not play on my 23" Cinema display (well, based on the
    timer it's playing but the screen is black with no sound, unplug
    the display and it pops right up on the laptop w/sound & video,
    plug the Cinema back in, all while playing, plays for a second
    then poof, back to no sound and picture).

    Anyone know how to at least get the SD version playing?
  • by Mario A. Gonzalez,

    Mario A. Gonzalez Mario A. Gonzalez Nov 18, 2008 2:37 PM in response to maxyourmacs
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 2:37 PM in response to maxyourmacs
    Well I only have 3 movies I purchase with a gift certificate a while ago and I haven't tried playing them since I first saw them, sure thing they're not playing now. I'm not gonna buy a new screen just because of this, I didn't technically spend money on those movies so I'm not gonna worry myself to death. But this is very sad indeed. Sad because Apple is no longer standing up for its costumers anymore like it did back in the days when the iTMS started.

    If we're not going to be allowed to play our videos on our current set up, they should refund us our money and disable the DRM on the videos we purchased. I'll take store credit, there is some iPhone apps I've had my eye on for a while.

    Just my 2¢
  • by ikir,

    ikir ikir Nov 18, 2008 11:54 PM in response to MDTV
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2008 11:54 PM in response to MDTV
    Probably it isn't an Apple decision at all. They know this choice would not be popular.
  • by Demlotcrew,

    Demlotcrew Demlotcrew Nov 19, 2008 1:52 AM in response to maxyourmacs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 19, 2008 1:52 AM in response to maxyourmacs
    There is no way im buying a new Mac now!
  • by edhead,

    edhead edhead Nov 19, 2008 2:17 AM in response to Demlotcrew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 19, 2008 2:17 AM in response to Demlotcrew
    It will be coming to the higher end PCs as well (I'd be surprised if Sony doesn't have plans for this already. HDCP was originally designed by intel, and it's supported by Micorsoft as well as Apple. A lot of vendors will be bending over backwards to support this ridiculous studio-pushed technology.

    Way to go to the studios and apple, you've just given people another incentive to pirate.

    Also, there's several HDCP options as far as I know (unrestricted, constrained image output and digital only). I'm surprised they've gone for the most extreme option, I thought they'd at least allow a reduced res output.
  • by Corey1081,

    Corey1081 Corey1081 Nov 19, 2008 7:22 AM in response to maxyourmacs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 19, 2008 7:22 AM in response to maxyourmacs
    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
  • by McGuckin,

    McGuckin McGuckin Nov 19, 2008 10:03 AM in response to maxyourmacs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 19, 2008 10:03 AM in response to maxyourmacs
    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.
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