selected movie won't play

The problem isn't Apple's. It is the MPAA who created the DHCP protocol that all content resellers must deal with. If you look around, you will find the same issue with any other device (PS3, XBox, etc.). Not defending Apple because it should be more apparent that VGA does not support DHCP, but unfortunately, there isn't much that the manufacturers (i.e. Apple) can do about it at this point.

Had the same problem and spoke with Apple Support. They had me reset the System Management Controller:

Shut down the computer. With the computer off, on the left hand side of the keyboard press shift+control+option along with the power button simultaneously and release. Wait 5-10 seconds and restart the computer.

This solved my problem and I was immediately able to purchase, download, and play an HD movie from iTunes w/o any error message.

Turn off computer, hold down Shift+option+control+power button, wait for 5-10 secs and restart--should be sweet!!

None of the so-called fixes have worked for me. I think it is very interesting that most of these posts were back in July and this is just now happening to me.

So, are there any new fixes for this? This really stinks and needs to be fixed.

Thanks so much! I am working with an 11" 2013 MB Air running 10.9.5. I decided to give iTunes a whirl for renting a movie (a bit more expensive, but super convenient). I plugged my MB air into my 4 year old Panasonic Viera plasma tv with a mini-display to HDMI converter and got the error message. After a frustrating 30 minutes, I found this bit of information and it worked perfectly! I have no clue why the System Management Controller thinks my tv suffers from High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP), but shutting the computer down, holding down the shift, control, option and power buttons with the computer off for 10 seconds, then restarting was the magic bullet.

Thanks again!

None of the suggestions worked for me as I could no longer play movies in iTunes on my MacBook Pro nor iMac 27" ... Apple support had me remove a package called DisplayLink. Goto upper right hand corner and click spyglass and type "display" ... I saw "DisplayLink Uninstall" and double clicked that to remove it ... After a reboot, I was able to play my iTunes Movies. This package is installed in one of two ways: 1) A Dell monitor 2) A software package that enables sharing your screen. Either way I had both of these items and this package was installed as a result.

This approach worked for me as well.

I don't play my iTunes movies very often on my Mac so I don't know how long the problem may have been in existence. However, my (our) issue is now occurring and I am receiving the error message,

"This movie can be played only on displays that support HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection)."

I have tried every solution that I am able to on my Mac, unsuccessfully. Before I contact support I thought I would make a post to see if anyone has a newer or more novel solution I can try.

OS X Yosemite

Version 10.10.1

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012)

3.1 GHz Intel Core i7

16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB

Regardez,

I ran into this earlier, where something I'd been able to watch previously was no longer working and showing the same message. I realized I had a screen capture application; iShowU HD I'd been using earlier and hadn't quit still open. Once I quit the application I was able to watch again.

The error message doesn't quite make sense in relation, but the logic does: one could easily use a screen capture application to illegally make a copy say, from a rental or something. My advice is to try looking at whether you have any applications running in the background which can copy, capture, or redirect monitor or audio output, quit them and then see if you're able to watch the movie(s) again.

Good Luck,

~B

I just had this issue come up. I was trying to play an episode of Star Trek The Original Series on my 2013 MacBook Pro Retina, and got only a grey screen.

I then repeated this on my 2012 Mac Mini. This time I got both the grey screen and a dialog box stating " The selected movie won’t play on your display. This movie can be played only on displays that support HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection). These iTunes downloads have worked for years. I have never had a problem playing anything I've gotten from iTunes before. I suspect it may be related to the latest iTunes App update. This also applies to my iTunes movies as well. They're not playing either.

One more thing... I can still watch my movies and TV shows on my TV via my Apple TV. It works with either of my two Macs. Of course this means I can't do this when away from home. That is unfortunate to say the least. I have a considerable amount of money invested in my iTunes library. Apple needs to get working on a fix for this immediately.

I did this on my MacBook Pro and It's working again. As this is my "traveling computer" this is great!

Thanks for the info!!

While I needed to use your suggestion to get my MacBook Pro working again, my Mac Mini seems to have fixed itself! Go figure...

The solution posted by others: reset the System Management Controller:

Shut down the computer. With the computer off, on the left hand side of the keyboard press shift+control+option along with the power button simultaneously and release. Wait 5-10 seconds and restart the computer.

I'm not sure how I happened to install DisplayLink on my Mac, but removing it following the instructions above worked perfectly. I can now view iTunes movies on my MacBook Air. I do know that I have used a USB portable monitor, so potentially that is what installed the DisplayLink application.

Thank you for solving and sharing this!