Why won't my iTunes movie rental play or download?

First make sure you have the latest version of iTunes. The same thing was happening to me and I tried all the above fixes with no success. Then I thought, "maybe I should update iTunes" and it works perfectly now 😊

I have a dual montior PC and it will play on one monitor and not another. A user a couple before me mentioned something about the cable used? I'm not sure what the deal is considering I have had it play on both in the past.

I have dealt with this issue three times now. Updating to the newest version of iTunes is the only thing that has ever worked. I did try all of the above as well.

Same for me, black screen, no sound, timer shows that movie is playing.

iTunes v.12.3.1.23

Same here. Black Screen, Playhead moves but no Sound and Picture. It somehow seems like apple bugs their own OS since Steve left the building. Very sad to see cause OSX10.6.8 was rock stable.

I found a fix!!! Found from here: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/74350/purchased-rented-movie-is-not-pla yed

Go into your system settings and set your clock one day forward. The movie should now play.

I don't know why this works, but it did for me. Hopefully it works for you guys as well.

None of the solutions in this (or the other linked in last post) thread worked. The only thing that did help in my case was downloading the whole movie and then starting play. Maybe in some of the "solutions", the movie had just been downloaded while the solutions were tried and eventually, it worked. When it did start, it went until probably the "second" section of the movie (Star Wars, Episode IV and V, right where the text in the beginning ends).

I've tried this on two different computers - Apple really should stop selling movies through iTunes when they can't make this work even on their own OS and hardware.

Hi

Same problem. Black screen and won't play. Chapters are visible in the tab on the bottom right.

All possible solutions mentioned above tried with no success.

Chatted with Apple Support for about one hour trying to sort out the problem.

Funny that they make you feel as though this problem is unique to you and your computer yet here we are 2+ years from the original post.

Must be that they do not read the posts or just ignore them.

Had this same issue 2 months ago and ended up hiring the movie twice before it played properly. Maybe that is their intent??

Did get a refund but all in all a very disappointing experience hiring and buying through iTunes.

Let's hope they fix it properly otherwise I will have to find an alternative service.😟

I paid and downloaded a movie last night. Showed up in my account that it was paid for and $3.99 was taken from my account. Went to play the movie later and it said there was NO downloaded movies!? I tried switching to the mini player, and there it was! Thanks for the tip! Glad I got on here!

What I did was click on the store tab and then clicked check for available downloads. After this, I had a rented bar and it worked fine.

I have had this problem for several years now, despite new versions of Mac OS X, iTunes, and new Macs. No matter what I do, I cannot playback any video content in iTunes. Currently on the latest version, 12.3.3.17, and El Crapitan 10.11.4, and even a brand new MacBook Pro 15", and still, no go.

Reading all of these posts, which are ALL over the internet, by the way, without a common solution, is frustrating. If Timmy would worry less about gay rights and privacy, we might get something beneficial out of Apple. Instead, just more buggy software and no innovation since he took over.

Anyway, no answer to this problem exists, unless I am missing something.

where do you change this setting?

It is good to know I am not alone with this issue. I rented a movie from iTunes and the screen remained black when I tried to play it. After failed attempts of trying the mini player and other suggestions, I called Apple Support. The first tech support rep gave me a free download and asked me to try downloading the movie again... same thing. The second tech support rep asked me the same questions and waited on the line for another rep... pointless. The third tech support rep said the first guy should have told me to delete the first download then attempt to download it again. I deleted both downloads of the movie. Downloaded it again, waited 20 minutes on the phone with this guy, and when I pushed play the same exact thing happened... a black screen. The tech support rep proceeded to tell me that there must be something wrong with this movie file and that I should try downloading it again in 3-4 days. Are you kidding me?!

Just for laughs I downloaded a different movie and surprise, surprise the same black screen. I am done with iTunes movies. I will be on Amazon watching my movies and not wasting my time waiting for downloads.

Me too i just bought deadpool and downloaded it (purchased not rented) and it wont play on any device not even mu iPad Air

only thing i differ with you here is i haven't sent any report to itunes because that is pointless. They never reply and just ignore you anyway. Always have done, always will do. So why send a message to a deaf horse?

Im sick of Apple's m4v files too wont even play on quicktime, and dont let you watch your own purchased movie. I thought that the movie companies let you write on dvd for personal use.. but it seems Apple put so much DRM and HDCP prevention in there its ridiculous, they try to stop you from watching the content you purchase except for in iTunes

Makes you want to go to the pirate bay

Thank you!