TV app won't play anything in Library

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Level 1

8 points

TV app won't play anything in Library

Trying to watch movies and tv shows I've purchased. 2018 Macbook Pro, was working fine, AppleTV shows play just fine, trailers play just fine, but when I try to play a movie or tv episode from my library, the player comes up with a black screen - no video, no audio, player doesn't advance past 0, nothing. I can click Extras, and watch deleted scenes videos, behind the scenes videos, etc., but can't play the actual movie! I tried all the solutions, restarted, OS is up to date, reset the cache, warnings, etc.

Posted on Jun 30, 2021 6:05 PM

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Answer 1

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Jul 1, 2021 12:50 PM in response to stetson628

Hello stetson628,

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. We understand that you're running into an issue playing your purchased movies and shows from iTunes, on your MacBook. We'd like to ask a few questions to help determine the best course of action to take.

Are the movies downloaded for offline play or are you streaming them?
Do you have a strong connection with your Wi-Fi or home network?
Do you receive any error messages? If so, what does it say?
Have you tried testing this in a different user account on your Mac or while booted up in safe mode?

How to use safe mode on your Mac

Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac

Best regards.

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Answer 2

stetson628 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 1, 2021 2:01 PM in response to chuck_3rd

I'm trying to stream them. I did try downloading one of them, but couldn't get it to play that way either (although I didn't wait for it to finish entirely.)
Yes, other streaming works fine, I can play 4k on youtube with no problem. Ookla SpeedTest says over 302mbps.
There are no error messages. It brings up the play window, and the Pause/Play and other buttons show up, and the but the picture area is black. The timeline shows the correct length of the film, but it won't play, clicking on the timeline does nothing (it just snaps back to 0). The one thing I can do is click Extras, and I can watch the extra features.
I tried logging into another user account just now. I was able to play a bit of one movie (Return of the King), but when I went to try Guardians of the Galaxy 2, I got the black screen again, and from then on, I couldn't play it or any other purchased content in that account either. I haven't tried Safe Mode yet, I'll try that now.

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Answer 3

stetson628 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 1, 2021 2:24 PM in response to chuck_3rd

I tried safe mode, and neither the Library movies nor the AppleTV shows would play there.

One of my purchased movies ended up on the "up next" section of the Watch Now page, and I'm able to play that from there. But if I tried and play the same movie from the Library page, I get the black thing again.

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TV app won't play anything in Library

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