This content requires HDCP for playback problem! Apple TV2

Easy / great fix. Thanks.

I had the same problem on multiple content sources, Netflix, YouTube, iTunes Store, etc. Content plays fine on other devices.

Apple TV 3, Sony Bravia 40" purchased 3 years ago, Verizon WiFi.

After fiddling with starting/stopping, cables, software updates, etc, I found a stable solution. Get a HDMI cable that has gold colored connectors and certified for 1080p. A higher quality cable made all the difference. BTW, Costco has a pair for a reasonable price. Monster Cables will work too, but they are pretty expensive. Could check out Cables to Go online as well.

Same issue, all hardware the same and suddently the HDCP message. Ive paid for 2 movies which have now expired. The problem is searching on line there are so many "fixes" none of which seem consistant.

Not a lot of money involved but quite annoyed Ive paid for content I couldnt view.

Is there an actual 100% fix?

This just started happening to happen to me as we'll it's crazy. I've been reading that more expensive or apple branded cables will fix the issue but really, time to smarten up here

i want to stream music through my Apple TV through digital optical cable without having the tv on. It can be done, I've done it.... Apple needs to fix.

Cowboy.., I just had a pretty dramatic resolution of this problem that I wanted to share with people. I think knowing the tv and the apple tv makes/versions are very important here. I had an apple tv 2nd generation, os=6.1.? and a 4 to 5 year old samsung fairly high end tv (mite have been a 5500) with 4 hdmi ports. My 2nd gen apple tv worked well with the television for over a year and all of the sudden I started getting the HDCP Playback error on Netflix and even iTunes purchased movies. On this thread markndeb88 suggested that the new "auto" resolution setting on apple tv had upgraded was no longer in sync with most tv's purchased before 2012. The "auto" setting my atv found was 720 60 mghz for some reason. He suggested lowering the mghz to 50 to get it to work. That didn't quite work for me. But on the apple tv I went into Settings -> Audio and Video -> Resolution and the default is to be set to "auto". I tried to set what markndeb88 suggested and the apple tv rejected that and said the tv was not compatible to that setting. But the key here is to try different explicit settings until one is accepted by the apple tv and it will tell you quickly if the setting is incorrect, or that it's willing to use that setting. In my case the apple tv accepted 1280 by 764 60mghz. I rebooted the apple tv, checked to make sure my resolution setting survived the reboot, and then checked the netflix movie that was failing for me. The results were dramatic. The netflix movie worked the first time and it must have failed 15 times when I was playing with it last night. I was using an apple tv hdmi cable for all of this and a kinivo hdmi splitter just to add complexity. I personally feel that all the hdmi cable discussion you see on these threads are a red herring, even though some people report that different cables work for them. I do think this is an apple bug. My 2nd gen apple tv worked for a long time without this problem. Some upgrade changed the auto setting such that it doesn't work for a lot of people. I have never seen anything like this on my Roku's or Chromecast so someone knows how to dynamically adjust to the tv resolution they're talking to without a big problem. This occurred on an Apple TV that said it had the latest version of the OS when I asked it to check.

For what it's worth, we now have this problem too. Can't access anything on AppleTV but the screensaver. I must say AppleTV worked well for a year, but now it's dead, won't do a thing but toss up the HDCP error.

After reading this thread and seeing how many others have the problem, and how random and mysterious the solutions are, I think we'll probably spare ourselves all the headache and just install our AppleTV in our trashcan.

It's the classic Apple experience. Beautiful interface, genius three button remote, wonderful features, and completely unreliable. I haven't bought a new Mac in ten years for this reason, but decided to gamble on AppleTV. But here I am again, holding another dead piece of junk. Oh well, my fault, I knew better.

OK I had the same problem: every worked fine until... I don't know what...

This is how I resolved the problem: I plugged the apple TV directly into the TV instead of into my amp: everything returned to normal.

I am not sure why it stopped working: nothing was changed in between.

Mystery...

I have read all the advise on how to correct the problem where my ATV is not allowing me to play movies through my Panasonic tv (HDCP error) and

I have done the following:

Bought gold plated HDMI cable: DID NOT WORK

Rebooted ATV: DID NOT WORK

Turned off all devises at powerpoint and restarted all (last TV): DID NOT WORK

Plugged ATV into iTunes and reset all factory settings included latest software: DID NOT WORK

Switched HDMI 1 / HDMI 2. This used to work for a while but neither will allow me to play movies anymore, all movies are purchased directly from iTunes or rented. Funnily purchased TV show does work.??

Rang Panasonic. They blame ATV. Spoke to them about an update for Panasonic. Apparently they don't have one? Did read that USA had an update which you could request on a USB but this is not possible in Australia.

Seriously this has been going on for months. Have spend $$ on movies but can't watch them anymore. Trying all possible sulotions. NON work

Please help!! So frustrated..

I updated to Apple TV software 7.0 on my 2 year old apple TV 3 a few weeks ago and this started happening. Up to then it was working fine.

I have done a restore and updated to 7.0.1 and it is still giving issues. I have followed all the steps on apple's support page and everything on the 9 pages here with no luck.

Very frustrating.

DDid you try turning tv on first and then turning the Apple TV on? Mine started doing this after my son turned the tv off playing around with his sister. I read this on one of the older posts and it worked. Oddly, I have the same issue with using my hot spot on my phone. i have to do it in sequence or other devises don't see my phone. Hope this works for you, good luck and God bless!

I hate to say it, but this is definitely a cable issue based on my experience.

I tried all of the restart steps recommended in multiple posts here, and had no luck.

Simply swapping out to a different cable (had gold connectors - not sure that mattered) I resolved the issue right away. Didn't have to restart anything.

That last point is what leads me to think this is cable-related.

Same issue here. Remodeling my apartment this past summer and used the Internet for reference frequently on various projects. Mounted a 55" LG TV to the wall complete with new holes in my wall all in effort to hide cables. After installing coordinating shelving, found the need to shift cables and their entry/exit wall holes over a bit (inctedibly frustrating). After the switch, I started getting these messages. I use an AT&T U-Verse Motirolla modem, routed through an Apple Airport Time Capsule with 5,000 feet of super strong signal for my 700 spft apartment. my set up worked beautifully for more than a year before I rattled the set up, but it was exactly the same as before...just shifted over a couple of feet. I CONSTANTLY battle Apple products playing nicely with my LG TV, and now this?? HDMI is HDMI is HDMI. Not going to spend a fortune on fancy swindler HDMI cables because it's all the same (the HDMI cord used was purchased at an Apple Store anyway). If proper updates don't happen, and very soon, both Apple and LG oroducts will force me to leave each of them on the side of the road with a big hole in the middle of them, and shopping for a comparable set up where Samsung devices are sold. Never to return to Apple or LG land ever again! #beyondfrustrated

I would love to do this but its 2015 so I just refuse to do so on general principles. The endless beta software and "hobby" TV bs is lame. AppleTV is glitchy as ****.

Apple tv is such a **** product. ******* stop manufacturing them.

This worked for me on the first try. After powering both units down (step 2b), I also switched off the power strip they are plugged into for about 15 seconds.

1. Connect your Apple TV (2nd generation) directly to your HDTV using an HDMI cable.

2. Set your Apple TV and HDTV to off or sleep mode

a. From the Apple TV interface, select: Settings -> Sleep Now.

b. Turn off your TV and wait for about 10 seconds.

c. Turn your TV back on.

d. Press the Select button on your Apple TV remote to wake your Apple TV.