1080p download and playback bugs in iTunes 10.6 for Windows

By the way, switching over to my IGP didn't solve the problem. My laptop's display is an HDCP-compliant panel @ 1920x1080 @ 60hz.

Edit: I get the message, but if I click on OK, the 1080p version plays anyways.

I too am getting this error message. I purchased the season premiere of Mad Men for playback on my HTPC with core i5-2500k and integrated graphics and saw: "The 1080p version of "A Little Kiss" is too large to play on this computer. This message will be dismissed in 60 seconds". After the time elapsed the episode proceeded to start, although I was surprised to see some jerkiness and stuttering from time to time. I also suspect but don't know how to check that it may be playing in 720p and not 1080p. My computer is definitely not the issue. I never have these issues with blu-ray playback on it. Sandy Bridge graphics handles 1080p perfectly. So this has to be an iTunes problem.

Overall very disappointed and can see how some would be tempted to acquire this episode via "other means".

I also have the same problem, my pc blows the minimum specs out of the water. However I seem to have an additional issue downloading the TV series Revenge in 1080p - the length of the episodes changes from 40 odd minutes to 1 hour and 40 odd minutes. After the episode is finished you get an hour of literally nothing if you want to watch it. Strange!!

I talked to a rep about this problem and was told that 1080p only works if you have windows 7. I have XP. Otherwise I exceed the requirements. Does any win 7 people have this problem?

In order to check if you're playing 720p or 1080p, for PC users, right click the video in the listing, then click Get Info. On the bottom right of the summary tab it will tell you the video quality (720 or 1080p) and dimensions (1920x1080). You can also look in the Windows folder and the 1080p videos will clearly state in their title "1080p HD". This is Win 7.

I think it is a bug because I found a workaround. Find the file in Windows explorer and open the file using quicktime. My 1080p version of an Office episode ran fine. It will be a pain until Apple gets it fixed, but at least I can watch the 1080p videos...

Thanks Texlar!

Quick Time played it in full 1080p. I'm surprised that iTunes has so many bugs in it. I've only had iTunes a few weeks and I've had nothing but trouble for it.

and JayOfTheFalls, the files do say 1080p in them.

I'm getting the error too. I'm running the latest iTunes in Windows 7 (x64) and have a Core i7 2.66GHz with 16GB RAM and an nVidia 560 ti, more than enough power for a 1080p video. And as others have pointed out the file will play anyway after clicking out of the error, or if playing the video in Quicktime.

Ok, I'm having this issue too and it freaked me out because I just today bought a brand new computer making sure it supports 1080p (and it does). Now, what I did was I deleted the SD version of a video and tried to play it. iTunes gave me the error, but I clicked "OK" and it played it anyway. Thing is, I recall from my previous non-1080HD computer that when I tried that it actually truly wouldn't play when I tried this... SO, I THINK it's still playing the 1080p, just is telling you it can't and if you try to anyway, then it works... I could be wrong though, as I see no way to tell while a video is playing unless I guess I could try to see if I see a difference when I press "Play Smaller Version"

Either way, this needs to be fixed and soon!

Ok I just tried it and I DID see a difference in the quality... so it seems it's still playing it when you tell it "OK" but it shouldn't be giving the error when the computer IS capable.

Message was edited by: AbsolutGrndZer0

I have this same problem. I have a Radeon HD 5450 which has no problem displaying 1080p. My HP has 16 GB of Ram and has a quad-core i7 processor running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit. This thing was meant for gaming and has no problems running HD games or anything that I throw at it. However, I suspect that the error has something to do with the fact that I have two monitors on my graphics card. One is capable of running 1080p with a greater resolution than is required for 1080p. The other is an older monitor that isn't yet still can play in 720p. Even though the HD monitor is set as my default monitor, itunes is still telling me that the video is too large yet when I let the countdown timer run out, it plays fine. I actually had to redownload my tv shows again in 1080p because itunes somehow replaced all the 1080 shows I had with 720p due to the error. It was quite annoying. I wish they would fix this but in the meantime I think I'm going to be using Quicktime to play them so that I don't keep having to redownload them.

I really hate itunes - All the episodes were in 1080p and then after I got that stupid error, it changed them to 720p. Now, whenever I try to redownload them, it keeps redownloading the 720p episode and not the 1080 version. This is getting really annoying because I can't get them back. Anyone know how to get them to redownload in 1080 again? I've deleted all the files and gone to purchased and redownloaded them yet I'm still getting 720p. I've even tried resetting the settings and repairing itunes and still no luck. It takes almost a day to redownload these because they are almost 2 GB a piece.

Run iTunes from your computer then click Edit, Preferences, Then choose Store. Look at the line "When downloading High Definition videos, prefer:" Click the box so that it reads 1080P. That should fix your download problem.

iTunes can not play 1080p video's. QuickTime will. Go to apples web site and download the free version. It will play them in 1080P but the audio will only be in stereo. This will work in XP and up.

Unfortunately, both the store and playback settings are set to 1080p. And I have Quicktime Pro so not having it isn't an issue.

Maybe I'll just download them on another computer and copy them into the itunes folder on my HD computer seeing as that seems to be the only way that I might be able to get them.

Well, in my experience it downloads them in 1080 and plays them just fine once I tell it "OK" which ends up ebing "That's nice try anyway". So, it's not that iTunes can't play them, it's that it's reading your computer specs wrong and telling you it can't... You just have to tell it "STFU DO IT ANYWAY" essentially.

I have Windows 7 and I have the same issue. I just tried playing it in quicktime like some have recommended but all I get is a gray screen.

Screen Resolution: 1920x1080

AMD Phenom II X4 840 Processor 3.20 GHz

8GB of RAM

AMD Radeon HD 6800 Video Card