TV show won't play on iTunes- black screen

Can you play the video in QuickTime? Try right clicking the video and choosing the option to show in Explorer. Then right click the video and open with QuickTime Player.

Also, check out this Apple article for ideas -> Troubleshooting iTunes for Windows Vista or Windows 7 video playback performance issues

teacher_k wrote:

I had already tried playing it in Quicktime and VLC(?), but it's as if there's no content when you look in the folder.

Try selecting the TV Show in iTunes and then clicking File > Show in Explorer. Then right click the file in Explorer and choose Open With QuickTime.

did you ever get this fixed? I have tried downloading a new quicktime and also trying to watch it in explorer and no difference.

What likely happened is a status change with your iTunes store account. Somehow your ability to play purchased material has been compromised.

The fix is to simply deauthorize and then reauthorize your computer. Both options are located in the Store tab in the iTunes menu bar at the very top of your screen.

Hope this helps!

I had an identical problem and was able to solve it by following Apple's instructions here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1925

The problem had something to do with add-ins because when I ran iTunes in Safe Mode (by holdeing Shift-Ctrl during launch) -- which disables addins -- the movies appeared correctly. But... I wasn't able to actually find any addins that were the root cause of the problem, so I decided to try a full reinstall per the link above. I didn't want to have to run in Safe Mode all the time; I was just using it to diagnose the problem.

I see that you've already tried re-installing some pieces, so I can't guarantee that these instructions will work any better. The only thing I'll mention is that the instructions make a point of listing six products to un-install, and that you need to un-install them in a specific order. Possibly you re-installed only iTunes and not the other supporting products? Here is the full list (in the correct order):

1. iTunes
2. QuickTime
3. Apple Software Update
4. Apple Mobile Device Support
5. Bonjour
6. Apple Application Support

Good luck.

Same exact problem here. Just a black screen.

Oh, something else to mention. The other show I downloaded played fine. I recently updated to the latest iOS version, so I'm thinking it has something to do with this. Will try another download and report back. I'll just eat one TV show in this case. Installing, updating, then re-installing various apps is a pain in the ***! Not worth the $2.99.

I had the same problem as teacher_k reported and I am happy to report that after 2 days of fighting it seems I solved it.

Symptom was: when playing a movie trailer from iTunes on a HDTV or on the computer either nothing happens or a black screen opens and no video or audio is perceived. I have a Win7 laptop.

I am not sure if all of these steps were necessary but at the end it started working:

1. I hope it is obvious that you need a connection to a HDMI TV (at least for some content that is protected) . Ensure that your TV display correctly shows your screen when not playing movies (fixing resolution, refresh rates, etc.)

2. Ensure you have latest rev of QT and that it is the default player for movies (by just launching it and answer yes to that same question if appears)

3. Follow the instructions in Troubleshooting iTunes for Windows Vista or Windows 7 video playback performance issues as Whatcheck said

4. The last tmagic step hat made it work was based on Patriciafromor: deauthorize/authorize the computer, Just in case I also logged off and back into my AppleID account and restarted iTunes and voilà

I too had the same problem (no video - all black, no audio, but player would act like it's trying to play something), even on TV shows that used to work. I discovered that since I have TuneUp Companion installed, it must also be running for my purchased TV shows to play properly. I had unchecked the option "Launch TuneUp with your media player" and that's when my shows stopped playing properly (took me a couple of days to realize it). As long as I have TuneUp Companion running my shows play normal once again.

Hope this helps someone else.

Hey All,

I'm actualy really sick of having this issue. I have had all kinds of trouble trying to use iTunes and its features like the Store (Movies)

Previously iTunes had decided that while playing movies, it would be fun to stop frame but allow the movie to continue playing in the background for about 4 seconds every 15 seconds or so regards of restarts, updates and re-installs.

I found that some bezar counter to this issue was disabling my network adaptor (Either rip out the cord, or Control Pannel Disable)

Lately however, it has desided to just show me a black screen (Windowed or Full screen) with no audio either. The ticker at the bottom of the dock suggests the movie is playing, but I am unable to see anything. Agian, restarting, installing and updateing dose nothing.

It's 11:46PM for me now, and all i wanted to do and hour ago is watch a dam movie. I have been trying franticaly to move it to other devices I have such as a Macbook Pro and my iPad 3rd Gen. However, this process could not be made harder. Well rather, I cannot do it at all for my Macbook (Thanks for that Apple), and my iPad needs to complain about everything possible first (Even though it should just be a drag and drop in my Library window).

Apparently it needs to charge before taking on such a hard task, but when it dose do it I Better not think it is going to download it agian from the internet. I'm expecting a copy accross from iTunes local to my network.

I don't think this is worth all the stress there always is.

Thank you whatheck. I can play the video (TV Show, actually) in QuickTime following your instructions, but still not in iTunes. Does this help in directing me what to try next so I can watch in iTunes? The whole "watch in QuickTime" is quite a bother and it is fairly small and tedious to watch without the full screen option.

whatheck wrote:

teacher_k wrote:

I had already tried playing it in Quicktime and VLC(?), but it's as if there's no content when you look in the folder.

Try selecting the TV Show in iTunes and then clicking File > Show in Explorer. Then right click the file in Explorer and choose Open With QuickTime.

Trying to open it in Quicktime did not work for me. In fact, this issue seemed to stump Apple support as well. I was on the phone with them for a little over two hours trying to solve this problem with no result. We left off with the guy wanting me to back up my files and reinstall my OS which I haven't done yet but I may have to try. I'm litterally out of options.

- I tried playing the files in both Quicktime and VLC

- I've reinstalled iTunes and Quicktime

- I even went so far as to buy Quicktime Pro thinking that would solve my issue

- I deleted the files and re-downloaded them

I tried a dozen other things with Apple support all which did nothing. Someone has GOT to have an idea I haven't tried yet.