I just downloaded a HD (720p) movie through iTunes, and cannot play it on my Mac becuase of a HDCP non-compliance error. I am running it directly on my MBA, not through an external display... I would have thought the MBA integrated display would be HDCP compliant! Is this an error or am I wrong in assuming my MBA could play legally purchased HD movies?
MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.1)
Check out the More Like This on the right side of this page. Maybe there some ideas there.
Googling "macbook air hdcp compliant" turns up some interesting hits.
Do you have all the MBA EFI firmware updates? I ask because I just looked up the following which is addressed by "MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.4".
...addresses an issue that can prevent HDCP authentication after a reboot.
All the links I've found so far on the support communities (as well as Google) are HDCP problems running through an external display.
And as far as the firmware update, I tried installing it now but it says my it isn't supported for my system. That said, assuming it came up on Software Updater, I would have already installed it.
Well, I don't have any more ideas. Maybe it's a, 'er, "feature" that you can't play HDCP content.
Thank you movie industry *^&%^$# 😠
Did you ever figure out an answer to this? It's happening to me as well and this is the only proof of this bug occurring anywhere on the Internet!
Same here (Arghh!!) 😠 Does anyone from Apple monitor this to provide guidance. It's ridiculous that a movie downloaded from iTunes can't be played on a current MacBook Air. Can someone please help!! Same issue as others that firmware update cannot be installed.
I'm having the same issue. I'm trying to watch HD content on a 10 month old MBA with the newest version of iTunes.
The firmware update is for Lion and I upgraded to Mountian Lion. ML seems to be the issue for me. I didn't have this problem before I upgraded.
If I have to watch movies in SD , I'm going to buy them from Amazon. At least I won't have to pay for a format I can't use.
I also have the same issue with a MacBook Air, that I got a month ago. I updated to 10.8, but it's still an issue, and there don't seem to be any firmware updates, or anything that fixes this. Apple, get your act together!
Same issue. Macbook Air from last year, worked fine until Mountain Lion upgrade. Now on HD movies/TV shows I get the HDCP error and iTunes crashes.
For me, I believe the issue is that I can't do the 2.4 EFI firmware upgrade after upgrading to 10.8.
How do I work around that?
Same problem. Had to watch movie on my 13" macbook pro rather than the big screen. Then I downloaded another movie through amazon, switched out to a hdmi cable, and both amazon and itunes movies worked. Good to know as a solution, but I agree, very frusterating by apple.
I just had the same problem. I downloaded 3 TV seasons and they have been working fine until today...after searching through many forums and not finding anything I thought maybe quitting Itunes and a restart may work and it DID! This seems to be some terrible glitch linked to mainly connecting to other monitors it seems. (I connected my iphone 5 last night to DL these shows and maybe it had something to do with it not working today?) Who knows, just try restarting first and hope for the best.
I tried this and it worked for me (I'm watching on a Macbook Air without an external display)
iTunes movie purchases will not play on external display - HDCP auth error
Try a System Management Control reset (SMC)
Whilst the machine is plugged into power, Hold down the left side shift control and option buttons at the same time as the power on button.
Hold these down for 4 seconds and relese all at the same time.
If this fails then you may need to clear the caches folder for your user too.
You can go to the apple.com/downloads page and search for it and manually download it if it's not showing in your software updater.
-Dib
HDCP error on MacBook Air (NOT using external display)
