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baconsgood Author

Level 1

0 points

Apple TV is not authorized message

I tried renting my first movie via via the Apple Tv (not my Mac) upon trying to play the movie I get the error that my Apple TV is not authorized to play this content. No where in the manuals does it mention authorizing your Apple TV, if i'm wrong about this please point me in the right direction.

I tried looking on the forums for answers but get a mix of rabbit holes to go down for a solution. I tried the authorize/de-authorize approach but no luck. I'm not even sure why i would need to authorize the Apple TV? Some other post mention seeing the Apple TV in itunes under devices... but i think this is for first gen Apple tvs?

I gotten home sharing working with no problems and can stream from my mac to the Apple TV with no issue. Netflix also works for that matter...

I don't see the rented movie in my purchases list via itunes either, should I? Should the rented movie show up in itunes at all if rented via the apple TV. The rental shows that I only have 23 hours now left to view it... even though it never started!

Does all content have be purchased via iTunes and not directly from the apple tv UI, that would be really lame if so... My wife was a bit peeved that she had to go downstairs to the computer to rent Mad Men, rather than just select if from the Apple TV.

Jeremy

imac 2.66, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Jan 4, 2011 9:16 PM

34 replies

jshussey

Level 1

0 points

Feb 24, 2011 8:14 PM in response to baconsgood

I tried to rent a movie too.. What a joke! It just doesn't work, so don't try it. They take your money and give you nothing. Apple=Comcast.. LAME compliant.

Jul 9, 2011 7:40 PM in response to David.Shaw

Apple TV 1 user who experienced the same symptoms. I bought and downloaded a TV show through iTunes and then tried to transfer to my Apple TV and am told I'm not authorized. Whent around and around. Noticed that I couldn't transfer previously bought content as well.

Finally (thinking about the authorization on this computer message part) I just clicked on the movie in iTunes to play it (on my Mac) and up popped my authorization login (i.e. even though iTunes let me purchase and download it to my Mac, the current iTunes on my Mac needed me to re-enter my authorization for some reason).

After I did that and I could watch it on my Mac everything was aces and it transferred without issues. For whatever reason my Itunes on my computer had become unauthorized at some point.

Bdonroot

Level 1

4 points

Aug 23, 2011 6:12 PM in response to baconsgood

I cannot play a movie I rented on my iPad through my Apple TV second generation. It gives me the same "not authorized" message that everyone else is getting. I unplugged the Apple TV, plugged it back in and still no dice. I can't find anywhere on my iPad to authorize the device, nor can I find anywhere on the Apple TV to authorize it. The whole reason I went the Apple TV route was to be able to do the exact thing that I now cannot do.

Sep 30, 2011 8:16 PM in response to baconsgood

The solution in this post https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2615621?answerId=12577679022#12577679022 did the trick for me...

Apple TV is not authorized message