Movie could not be able to play

Perhaps [Frequently asked questions about viewing and syncing videos|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2729] will be useful.

Hope it helps!

No, the FAQ does not help, and why should we leap through hoops to deal with Apple's screwups anyway? We pay for the iPhones, iTunes, and the movies to watch them when we please, not to get error messages and referrals to FAQ to deal with the problem ourselves.

I purchased Avatar through iTunes, and it still plays fine on my desktop iTunes, but following today's upgrade to the iPhone software, Avatar gets the "This movie will not play" error. All my other videos play fine.

You clowns just made lead story on my talk radio show.

Welcome to the discussions, Michael.

Have you tried using the iTunes Advanced > Create iPod or iPhone version option? The resolution you would want for your iPhone would not be the same as for your monitor. You may need to create a version that will play with with newest OS for your iPhone. Not sure which version of iPhone you have, but if you check [the tech specs|http://support.apple.com/specs/#iphone] it will tell you what your phone will play.

We're clowns for trying to help you?

When I bought Avatar from iTunes, I bought it FOR the iPhone. I downloaded it to my iPhone and it played properly without having to do anything special to it. It played every time I wanted to watch until today following the upgrade to the iPhone software through iTunes. Now I get the "This Movie Cannot Be Played" message and no other explanation for why the movie will no longer play. This is NOT a jailbroken iPhone. There are no modifications to it. I have unchecked Avatar and re-synced to erase it from the iPhone, then re-checked it and synced again to reload it to the iPhone again. That seems to have fixed the issue.

No, you are not clowns for trying to help; you are clowns for not debugging this stuff before it goes out the public. We expect that kind of recklessness from Microsoft, not Apple.

And finally, please do not wave FAQs and tech-specs at me. I am not a computer novice. I am ex-NASA and was a UNIX Guru all the way back in the 1980s, and occasionally I do computer animation for film and TV. By the time I contact technical support, I have pretty much gone through the available resources.

I'm glad your issue was resolved so easily.

I do not work for Apple so your rants are misguided. I have my own problems I work on during the day and check in on these forums from time to time as a fellow ipod owner, just seeing if I can help some folks. I think that's true for everyone who answers posts here.

I have also worked implementing software solutions and know that things don't always work the way they did in a test environment for a variety of reasons. Apple probably could do a better job of testing or communicating problems. I'm not here to defend them - I am in the same boat as everyone else when it comes to installing updates. But it's obviously not in their best interest to intentionally release buggy software, so I tend to believe they are trying to avoid that. Albeit sometimes it doesn't seem to work that way, at least for the folks who come here with questions and problems.

That's why I - and many others - volunteer our time and try to help those who may not be as tech savvy as you. Sometimes it means sorting through questions that are poorly written, or people who are just angry, but it's worth it when they come back and say "Thanks, that helped."

I hope you will consider using some of your time and talent to help too.

You are much smarter, more talented, and better looking than us peons on the Apple forums, Michael. Glad I don't listen to your self-important drivel on your talk show. I think my ears would bleed.

Should future issues arise - I was having this exact same issue when I tried to play movies bought through iTunes on my MacBook Pro which were transferred to my iPhone 3GS. However, I noticed that the only movies that would give me the error 'This movie cannot be played.' were the movies that I'd previously played in surround sound on my MacBook.
I deleted the movie from my iPhone, went back to iTunes on my laptop, played the movie for a few seconds as I changed the sound setting back to 'stereo', then transferred it back to my iPhone - and that fixed it!
Just thought you'd like to know. 🙂