Movie Downloads from iTunes Store won't play on my Mac or iPhone

Question

Movie Downloads from iTunes Store won't play on my Mac or iPhone

Have just downloaded my Star Trek digital copy from the iTunes store; it is sitting on my Mac's hard drive as a .m4v file of nearly 2Gb; seems OK. However, if I click on 'play' in iTunes it shows a progress bar playing in iTunes & in the separate movie window I get a blank screen & no sound. I then sync'ed it with my iPhone & when I go into the iPod on the iPhone & play the movie I get the error "This movie could not be played". I have some podcasts on the Mac & iPhone & they work OK on both platforms.

Now I understood that the .m4v format was alright to play on both my Mac & on the iPhone but it's not working for me...anyone encountered this before / got any ideas pls?

Appreciate any help thx...Brooke.

MacBook Pro 17" Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz, Mac OS X (10.5.8), iPhone 3G; iPhone 3Gs; iMac; iPods; Dell XP laptop

Posted on Jan 24, 2010 9:51 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 7, 2010 6:52 AM in response to hairynosedwombat

Same issue. I've been buying TV shows and movies on iTunes for a long time and copying them to my iPhone to watch on my TV. A few days ago, I tried to move a rented movie to my iPhone the same way I always did, click the "move" button next to the movie under the movies tab for the iPhone in iTunes when iPhone was connected and then click "apply". It would do a quick sync without copying anything.

I thought I had a bum file, so I e-mailed Apple support and they reset the purchase so that I could redownload, which I'm doing now.

But my recently downloaded episodes of Lost will also not copy to my iPhone. AND they will not even play on my iMac. When I try to play them, it shows only a grey screen with a progress bar. TV shows and movies purchased and downloaded weeks or months ago still play fine.

No changes have been made to my system. After the rented movie didn't play and copy, I did a update check and downloaded and installed the latest versions of iTunes and the iPhone firmware. That didn't fix it. I have the newest versions of the Quicktime and iTunes. The computer is authorized for these purchases. The iPhone is authorized.

I've looked at similar threads and have not found a solution. I'm stumped. If anyone has a solution let me know.

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Answer 2

Feb 7, 2010 7:21 AM in response to ChouDoufu

Only thing that occurs to me is iTunes itself ? Are you using the latest update and are you logged in when trying to play the movies ?

Try logging in and out of iTunes and of course on the iPhone if you can.

If on a PC, then a reboot probably worthwhile ?

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Answer 3

Feb 7, 2010 7:40 AM in response to Graham Outterside

Yes, both iTunes and iPhone are up-to-date. I'm logged in.

Now, if I go to the files using finder, I can play in Quick Time.

I don't understand why, if I can play in Quick Time, I can't play in iTunes. Also, I really want to watch on my TV, which I do by moving the video to my iPhone and connecting my iPhone to my TV.

I'm on an iMAC, with OS 10.5.8.

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Answer 4

Feb 7, 2010 7:47 AM in response to ChouDoufu

Okay, if you can navigate to the file concerned, do a Command I and get the movie properties - its dimensions please ?

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Answer 5

Feb 7, 2010 2:39 PM in response to hairynosedwombat

OK - problem solved after some time spent on the phone with Apple Tech Support (many thanks guys).

I bought Star Trek from the US store & for some reason, even though my computer was "authorised" I had to go & deauthorise & then re- authorise my computer; the movie then played on my Mac & iPhone (after re-sync'ing). It's a miracle...!!!

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