"this movie could not be played"

This happened to me. All the videos I had would not show on my touch, even though iTunes showed them as being on my iPod. I had to delete and reinstall all my movies and it seems all right now. Sorry couldn't help.

I am in the same boat here. Music videos will play, but not TV shows that were bought from iTunes and still play on the computer in iTunes. If this is prevalent enough to merit Google hits, it is more than just my kid's problem.

Looking forward to reading a solution.

Im havint the exact same issue here, except its opening the apps just fine. It is however giving me the same error message "cannot play movie" every time i try to play a legally downloaded (from itunes) tv episode it has an issue...

PLEASE HELP

Perhaps ALL of you having problems with iTunes movies and TV shows downloaded the HD version.


See Using the iTunes Store for iPhone and iPod touch at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1491

You can purchase movies and TV shows in standard (480p) or high definition (720p) format. When you purchase a high definition (HD) video, a standard definition (SD) version compatible with iPod and iPhone immediately downloads for viewing. The high definition version appears in iTunes on your computer in the Downloads queue. You must be signed in to your iTunes Store account on your computer to view and download items from the Downloads queue.

I'm having the same problem with my ipod. I already did all the things that apple recommends in the troubleshooting page. Nothing seems to work. The music plays ok, but the videos and the apps are not working. somebody help us

At the top of the right hand column on this web page, please select My Settings, and then add information about the make/mode/OS of your computer, your iTunes version and the size of your touch (and if 1G, 2, or 3G)


Having information about your system helps people trying to help you.

This happened to me when i bought a few TV shows on itunes and all i needed to do was reset all settings and it worked

I have had the same problem with movies not playing downloaded from ITunes. These videos were free BBC giveaways and are in the IPod compatible Mpeg4 Video (m4v) format. In addition to 'This movie could not be played', downloaded apps decided not to launch (having worked perfectly the day before).
Restoring the IPod as the previously logged version on ITunes did not work, nor did that classic turn it off, turn it back on again, or indeed the 'download a free app' solution.

It would appear the only way to revive the IPod is to restore and then choose the add as new ipod option, then reapply all the apps, video, music...

Hopefully this wont happen again... but in the meantime the videos are now playing and the apps are fully functioning. 🙂

Just got off the phone with Apple Tech Support.

Here’s what worked for me. We did another Retore but first we did this:

1. Go to your hard drive

2. under Places, go to your name--the icon with the little house

3. In Library folder then go to Tunes folder then to iPod software updates folder

4. Drag to trash all of the files in the iPod software updates folder.

5. Now connect iPod and do a restore. And restore it like it’s a new iPod.

6. Then do a sync for all of the movies and apps and music etc.

That’s how we got movies to play for me.