I can’t see my videos with IOS 13.4

We are not allowed to discuss any procedures about ripping any type of commercial tv/movie content and Apple doesn't spy onanyone, but they have, in the past, shutdown avenues that made it possible for stored, custom ripped commercial content from playing on both Macs and iOS.

I use a third party app on my Mac for this purpose.

I custom rip such content, but my workaround for this has not been affected by the recent iOS updates as I have been using a third party wireless drive with an iOS third party wireless drive app that allows my content to still be played from this external, wireless drive and NOT played directly from Apple's TV app.

Again, specific discussions of the apps and procedures to do this cannot be discussed here under the User Agreement Terms of Use of these support communities.

Benjamin Ing wrote:

In my email, I specifically mentioned that the content still plays fine in the TV app on my MacBookAir running Catalina. This is not an encoding issue.

Maybe you want a solution? Doesn't seem anyone else wants wants to.

Do they work in VLC?

What are you using to encode these videos?

Benjamin Ing wrote:

Did you just gloss over the part where I said that they play back fine in iOS13.3 and don't play back on iOS13.4? Or the part where I can play them back in another iOS app (AVPlayerHD fwiw). Unless the new update somehow has upgraded my hardware or AVPlayerHD reconfigures the processing in my iPad Pro it is either a bug or Apple eliminated the functionality.

AVPlayerHD transcodes the audio on the fly. You're only getting 2 channel audio and a ridiculously low bitrate. This means dramatically higher CPU usage which translates to a much shorter battery life. You think Apple is going to do something like that in their own app? No... encode them right to begin with so it relies on the CPU extensions to do it (which use far less battery). That's why they publish these specs of what it can actually play. The CPU in your iPhone has different capabilities than your laptop or whatever.

I have been having the same issue that has been discussed here on my iPhone XS Max. I updated to 13.4 and had the issue with "there's a problem loading this content" started. The issue persisted with 13.4.1 and now on the 13.4.5 public beta. I tested the movies that are not playing, on an old iPhone 7 Plus that I still have and the movies play without issue, I even tested them on an old 2nd gen iPad mini that I have and the movies play without issue. These movies are all purchased items also.

Same videos worked right before update to 13.4 now they're broken after update to 13.4. Clear cut bug. Not an encoding error. Whether or not Apple fixes it remains to be seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpw2H9nH3gU

This video is a work around but you have have to download the app.

I don't have a solution but just letting you know I'm having the same problem so you know you're not the only one. Just got my new 2020 iPad Pro and did both a restore from backup and set up as a new device and have the same problem as you. My old iPad Pro 10.5 inch and my iPhone both still play home videos no problem and I haven't updated them yet so I'd say it's definitely a 13.4 issue now that I've finally found someone else reporting the same.

I’m currently having the same issue. I can load video from apps like Netflix or Tubi; YouTube. I can not however watch any content through safari or any browser app. Firefox & Chrome are not loading either. Pretty sure it’s 13.4. Didn’t have the issue before updating.

FYI,

Due to agreements with the television and motion picture industries, Apple takes a dim view of users who are ripping commercial content for use on Apple’s own computers and devices.

Apple actually frowns on this type of activity by its users.

Apple has to find ways to keep users from being able to ( illegally, in most cases ) rip their own content from commercial sources and play it on their products, as part of their cooperation with the television and motion picture industries.

So, if you told any of the support employess you are having issues with playing your ripped, commercial TV or movie content, it might the reason Apple was giving you the runaround and support employee shuffle and eventually just told you to send feedback through the feedback pages.

I've encoded all of my videos to the strict encoding profiles established six years ago. They all still play just fine. If you encoded outside of those profiles and they don't work... well, doesn't take a rocket scientist.

Again, what profile did you use? Do you want to actually solve this?

I’m not an expert and don’t really understand what you mean by “strict encoding profiles” but I know all my video content is encoded to H.264 with the .mp4 or .m4v suffix and has worked on all manner of iPads I’ve owned, but not the new one with 13.4. They all still play on both my old 10.5 inch iPad Pro and my 11 Pro Max which are still on 13.3.1, but my new 2020 12.9 inch Pro which has 13.4 pre-installed, and is now on 13.4.1 since yesterday won’t play anything. Clearly a bug to me.

Firstly in case you didn't notice, I'm a different person than the other one you were originally discussing this with - it seems like you think you're talking to the same person.

Secondly, you're right about the H.265 I got that part wrong. I actually knew that as I sorted the issue I was having with it a couple months back.

I'm using a simple programme called MP4 Tools available through the Mac App Store as I need to convert most content I have from .mkv to .mp4 before syncing it to my iDevices, but the codec doesn't change. All the videos come as H.264 and all I do is convert the audio to AAC from AC3 as I've had issues playing content with AC3 audio.

I say again though, why would these videos suddenly not work on 13.4 unless it's a bug? Nothing has changed, at least not as advertised, from Apple's end about what should and shouldn't work now, so video content that works on other iDevices should still work on the new one. The only difference is 13.4.

Benjamin Ing wrote:

They all still playback perfectly fine in the TV app on my MacBook Air. That is why I am calling it a bug.

I can open them in another app on my iPad but transferring is a pain since I can’t just plug in and sync it.

I understand the underlying content security issues but there are plenty of other apps that allow you to copy content and play it back off of an iPad (Netflix, Hulu, Sling, etc.) This was all litigated before with VCRs and the DCMA, but if Apple is truly worried, they should let people know. And fwiw, your continuing insinuation that I am doing something wrong is not helpful, if it isn’t a bug particular to iOS 13.4 why does the exact same content play back in iOS 13.3 and in the Mac desktop apps?

Not a bug. Two different devices with two classifications of hardware acceleration. I've posted in this thread many times on how to determine what the issue actually is. If you don't want to do the legwork in helping me help you, then I'm not going to waste my time. Post an analysis using mediainfo linked above and then I can help.

Did you just gloss over the part where I said that they play back fine in iOS13.3 and don't play back on iOS13.4? Or the part where I can play them back in another iOS app (AVPlayerHD fwiw). Unless the new update somehow has upgraded my hardware or AVPlayerHD reconfigures the processing in my iPad Pro it is either a bug or Apple eliminated the functionality.

*EDIT* Misread initial post as I don’t use Apple TV app for anything other than the apps that sync in with it such as Amazon, Disney+, etc. I use Plex mainly for watching anything I haven’t purchased as digital media & ripped from my own personal original Blu-ray/DVD collection (Other than one offs that I might have on a USB-C thumb drive to not mess up the index on Plex)

No issues with my 2018 iPad Pro on 13.4.1 with playing back ANY video thru any app. Ripped MKV/MP4 video plays fine off of USB stick via Files or Readdle Documents, as it does from my Plex servers in my loft over the network in the Plex app. Amazon Video, Vimeo, YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ (for iTunes purchased video including 4K), etc are all fine as well. The only issue with video apps that I have had since buying the iPad Pro a couple of months back is with the ITV Player app that wouldn’t go past a grey screen until last night (ITV must have done something to resolve it at their end as nothing changed here & now works again).

Can’t offer anything other than what has already been mentioned but like most of the issues that get reported on here, some people may be affected & others aren’t with same hardware, software, etc & no real reason to why the problem exists!