Q: iTunes won't play quicktime videos on Mac anymore.

Thanks for the update and info.  I do have my NAS (ReadyNAS) in my login items so it does mount at login but it makes sense that not having the volume available to iTunes is the root of the issue.

I will be sure to quit iTunes before rebooting so it doesn't automatically start.  Like Wyllyam, reboots are few and far between.

As least we now appear to know the cause and the requisite workarounds.

@Wyllyam How do I do that for rented movies ? If I click on delete they are gone forever. Any tips here?

One option that might work, if your going to watch the movie immediately after:

Another way I used to resolve the issue (which I'm going to have to remember on the fly) was by switching iTunes to 32 bit, then trying to play the video and wait for it to play (which for me would have been without sound) then stopped the video and switched iTunes back to 64 bit.  This same sound/32 bit issue is referenced in my post from 05/06/2012 in this same thread.

Something about the switch to 32 bit and an unsuccessful attempt to play the video for non-rental videos would result in the file being treated differently when I switched back to the 64 bit mode.  But, because I'm impatient, I went for the delete/add back option as it required fewer steps and I could do more than one file at a time.

A less useful option, applying only to future computer based rentals, would be to tell the iTunes to use the local drive and stop consolidating the library.. Then, new videos would download to the local HDD and be, potentially, playable while the rest would be on the NAS.  If you wanted to keep something long term, you could manually move it to the NAS then reimport it back into iTunes.  I'm not going to say this will work but it seems logical in what options iTunes has for indexing files in multiple locations and would probably allow rentals to play IF the issue we all have is specifically related to NAS/iTunes configurations.

The last option would be to ask Apple to refund the money then avoid renting movies/TV shows on the computer.  If you have an iPad or Apple TV, renting on those devices would bypass the problem.

Ok I agree. Delete and add back. But for rentals you can ONLY TOTALLY delete. That is my issue.

I just moved the file, renamed it, deleted within RENTAL and iTunes found the file and deleted it from my harddrive.

How do I delete a rented movie from iTunes without deleting the file itself, so that I can re-add it to the libary again?

Still no clear step by step answer on that.

Now my movie is gone, and I am none the wiser.

Should have tried the 32/ 64 bit solution.

By the way I am used a TimeMachine from Apple (not sure if that is NAS) - shouldnt that work flawlessly.

I mean that is what the thing is for to put your big files like your iTunes library on it , right ? Sign ...

thanks for giving me the idiot guide to delete and re-add rentals.

Your welcome.  Now, follow the other piece of advice I gave you and call Apple for a refund.

"The last option would be to ask Apple to refund the money then avoid renting movies/TV shows on the computer.  If you have an iPad or Apple TV, renting on those devices would bypass the problem."

*** - I just tried to play a podcast and got the quicktime message...

I am not sure what a NAS drive is but this does suck.  I use to brag to windows users - get a MAC....

Hi Zakster

I don't know if you are still having the NAS problem with resetting media locations but one answer is at the bottom of this thread - it worked for me:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2459302?start=0&tstart=0

This method permanantly ensures that iTunes always looks for the NAS - if it isnt attached or awake then a dialogue box appears asking for the location of your media folder - all you need to do is cancel, connect the drive and restart itunes. No more resetting the media location in preferences.

Hope this helps,

Jon

Hi Jon,

Thank you for pointing me in the direction of that discussion thread; and yes, I was still experiencing that precise problem.

I applied the proposed "fix", and then openned and close iTunes a number of times, even restarted the iMac and it looks to be solid, with iTunes pointing to the NAS mounted library.

I will monitor over the next week or so and report back, bit it looks good so far!

Much Appreciated.

I do not have an NAS drive - library is on same drive as all other files.  I switched to 32 BIT and seems everything works.  Is very slow to open iTunes - does the checking library forever. Have 17000 plus files.  Turned off Genius and it starts up faster. 

Maybe related or not - when I upgraded I also changed my windows to a boot camp then installed Parallels to make my iphone jailbreak windows software work,  When I installed Windows 7 on boot camp it would not automatically install the 64 BIT drivers - said is not compatible - would not install 32 BIT either - so I installed the 64 BIT drivers manually and Boot Camp and Parallels intalled correctly. Another story - not fixed.. I originally had XP installed then upgraded to W-7. Now it says my intallation is not genuine because the original was XP.

I would like to run iTunes in 64 BIT but cannot play many of my videos unless using the 32 BIT mode.

It use to work fine before upgrading.  I have iMAC with a 1TB Western Digital Black drive. 

iMAC 20 inch early 2009

Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63)

I have been having this problem for several weeks now after the latest iTunes release came out. Basically the first time I rent or purchase a movie it works fine but if I need to play back afterwards it fails.

The workarounds above work fine if you have bought content, however for rentals you cannot do this.

I stopped watching a rental half way through and the following day attempts to play the movie but no joy. In the end I sent a nasty email to Apple saying I was unable to watch the content and they agreed to refund me the rental fee. They also mentioned this has been a common complaint from customers since the latest iTunes was released.

I have a Drobo NAS which connects to the same Airport Extreme as the Mac Mini where I am playing movies from. I find it amazing that this issue has not been resolved, and find it unacceptable that we should be doing such convoluted workarounds to resolve what is patently a basic file management issue with iTunes.

Subscribing to this thread in the hope that this gets addressed. Otherwise I'd recommend the refund approach to anyone facing issues with rentals. I don't see how Apple can offer a credible alternative to piracy if you end up being unable to watch paid for content because of this badly handled bug.

So this is what I have found so far. Personally I don't think it's a NAS issue, my entire library sits on my Xraid and whilst there have been issues with iTunes refering back to 'default' settings when it can't locate my media folder, the QT issue is something different. So to give you some details. iMac 3.06GHz Intel Core Duo Imac running 10.8.2 and iTunes 11.0.1 64bit. I just purchased season 2 of Boardwalk Emire and when I try to play an episode I get the QT error pop up

I then quit iTunes and restarted in 32bit mode and tried to play an episode where upon I then got the following error message pop up

I then have to force quit iTunes. I then  open again in 32bit mode and run through the same process and then have to Force Quit iTunes again. I then switched back to 64bit and was then able to play the episode without issue. The downside is that I have to go through this procedure for every single episode in the season!

In addition this is only happening with content that was purchased after the upgrade to iTunes. My older content (The Wire, Battlestar Galactica etc) all play just fine straight away in 64bit mode!!

So I guess I'll just have to wait for a patch. When I got into Macs many many years ago these things were never an issue. Sadly it becomes more like a Windows environment every day. :^(

Thanks!  This worked nicely.  It allowed me to download the older format, then I just opened the file in the finder using QuickTime.

I just use HandBrake to reformat my older incompatible files (they were all .mpg) into the .mp4 format and then re-add to iTunes. I haven't had any problems.

Hi, I moved my itunes to a NAS (lacie) back in 10.7.? and itunes 10.? and had no problems; also after updating to 10.8. at some point (itunes update??) i started getting the "...require Quicktime..." window.

i hoped in vain something would get fixed with itunes 11. Problem persisted.

Just found this post, switched itunes to 32-bit, problem solved (slow to boot, though). thx.

about the NAS mounting to slowly, i found a macworld ask the itunes guy suggesting that us users moving our itunes off the /user leave an itunes folder in MUSIC and lock the files (cmd+i, click on lock) inside. that way, even if itunes does revert to default, which it will when it doesnt find the NAS, it cant boot a "new itunes".

i also put an alias called iTunes in the music folder pointing to the NAS.

system wont let me upload my screenshot (yey apple, doing great things until 2010); sorry...