If I rented movie on ITunes on Mac, can I watch on Apple TV

Hi KaitainCPS,

Are you sure you have "Home Sharing" activated on the computer you rented the movie AND on your Apple TV?

Just checking as this is the key to making this procedure work.

Also, do you have iTunes set up on your computer so the traditional menu column appears on the left side. It is not visible by default in the latest version?

Apple TV and iTunes running most recent software versions?

I agree with Kaiain. It does not work. No sign of my rented movie but everything else appears and is watchable. I, however, have a 1st Gen ATV!

Hi Aquatic999,

You nailed it. Home Sharing functionality is not available on the Apple TV 1st Generation...only 2nd and 3rd.

For others who want to use this method to watch movies rented on your computer on your television via an Apple TV examine this link:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4352?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Best, Mr. Luigi

I must add that it is crucial to make sure that your ATV is signed in under the SAME user_name as your iTunes. Most of us have several user_names or accounts with iTunes. And so far, Apple with not let us 'consolidate' all our user_names into one. So If your iTunes is on but signed in under a different user_name than your ATV is; you will NOT find that rented movie on your TV or ATV. I just spent 50 minutes figuring this out!!!

Most of us have several accounts? Really? I have had one iTunes/Apple account in the last 10 years, never saw any reason to have more than one.

Suffice it to say that is not the problem. I still can't play rented movies on Apple TV unless I rented them using Apple TV. The wheel spins forever. I have given up on my Apple TV doing what I want it to do and Apple doesn't seem to care. They are too busy adding crappy sports channels to Apple TV that no one in my house will ever watch. It just junks up my menus but I guess they think we're all a bunch of sports fanatics. (And Korean TV? Who the **** wants THAT?)

So basically you have to pay twice to rent the movie. Why is everyone so polite? This is ridiculous. The Apple TV even asks you if you want to rent twice instead of saying that's fine you have 22 hours left to watch. My admiration for apple has evaporated.

If you rented the movie on your computer then you can certainly view it on Apple TV, by using the Computers icon. No need to rent twice.

If you rent it directly on ATV then you can only view it there, and this is due to limitations put in place by the studios.

Hi red-seven,

No...I don't believe what you say is right. Please see my comment 4 posts up. It is dated Aug. 18, 2013. Unless you have a 1st generation Apple TV you CAN watch movies on your Apple TV that were rented on your computer using Home Sharing.

No need to buy the movie twice and no need to let the good vibes evaporate in the cosmic abyss.

Best regards, Mr. Luigi

I have home sharing set up, with the new itunes you just have select your apple tv in "devices", go to "movies" and move the rented movie over to the apple tv column, easy peasy. EXCEPT it takes hours and hours to sync, and you can't start watching the movie until it's completely downloaded. Remember we are talking about the first generation apple tv, it works differently from the newer ones. I do have a third generation apple tv but I stupidly hooked it up to a smaller tv and I can't unhook it because of it's location. I thought I would watch a movie on the bigger tv and that's where I ran into this problem.

Wow, way too much information. I really need to go buy another ATV or two.

And this doesn't complete work either. It shows up in rented on the laptop, but when I got to movies under computers, its not there. Apple seems to be their best to ensure you never rent a movie.

Hi mikeindc,

That is puzzling. This process should work. Below is a step-by-step description of the process just to be sure folks have it right. If what I describe below is what you have already done and it still does not work, QUIT iTunes-->SHUT DOWN your computer and do a restart with the Apple TV on-->Restart iTunes. If that doesn't work reboot the Apple TV. (Disconnect it from power...wait for about a minute...then plug it back into power.)

Overview of this situation:

Only Movies you have purchased will show up in "Movies" on your Apple TV. These get streamed and do not require any computer to be turned on in your house. Unfortunately, Apple has not made playing of rented movies that easy. You must turn on Home Sharing on the computer you rented the movie. In iTunes on your computer go to the top menu bar and under "File" you will see "Home Sharing." Enter your Apple ID, etc. to get Home Sharing up and running on that computer. You also need to turn on Home Sharing on your Apple TV. If you have more than one computer in your house, it is probably a good idea to turn on Home Sharing on all your computers while you're at it...unless you have some unique reason why you do not want that functionality active on some of the computers. To confirm Home Sharing is on, and if you have more than one computer running iTunes at home, look at the left menu bar in iTunes (the new version of iTunes does not have that visible by default, but I choose to have it visible). Under "Shared" you will see the iTunes libraries that are included in your Home Sharing network-assumeing those computers are on.

Now, when you go to your Apple TV you need to go to "Computers." You will see a list of all the iTunes Libraries that are in your Home Sharing network that are turned on. The computers that are off will not show up. Click on the one that contains your rented movie. Start playing.

I must say...this is one heck of a pain. This would all be much easier if you could go to "Movies" on your Apple TV and see a listing of all your active rented movies...even those not rented on the Apple TV. Personally, I think the way Apple has this set up goes against its mantra of..."It just Works."

For me what seemed to work in the end was waiting for rental download to finish. And that's a pain. I had rented on computer since I had to update payment details. I agree that there is no reason why this has to be this painful.

Good point, red-seven!

Until the download of the rental movie is completed on your computer it will not show up on the Apple TV. This is often the reason why things don't seem to work. Those downloads can take quite a while depending on network capabilities.

Here's how to settle this problem!!!

Hi everybody, I had the same problem and even iTunes support did not understand my question so I figured it out by myself and here is what I discovered and it works perfectly:

#1 When you rent the movie on your Mac or computer let it dowload a little or completely!

#2 Make sure Home Sharing is ON on the computer and in AppleTV that is the most important part of it.

#3 Another important part is you have to Open iTunes on your computer but you don't even have to Sign In

*Just Open it*.

#4 After that Open AppleTV and click back to see your settings,computer, music and movies icons. Then Click the green computer icon and if your Home Sharing settings are Ok you're suppose to see your library for example: "Bobby's Library" and then a list appears you will see Music, Rentals, Movies, TV Shows and Podcasts. iTunes has to be Open for it to work!!

Your rented computer movie is now in your AppleTV hidding there in Rentals click it and it is ready to watch! It is suppose to work just fine!

You don't have to bother with AirPlay, iCloud or anything else of course if you rented your movie in HD make sure your settings are in HD but if you rented a SD movie and your ATV is set to HD It will play you SD Movie Cause SD will bypass your HD settings!

Et Voilà!

Thanks for the tip. Very helpful.