My computer will play itunes songs, but not videos purchased through itunes. The screen just goes black. What to do?

Hi illy2! Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

I have found a couple of articles that will address your issues with iTunes video playback. The first is the article you referenced in your post:

iTunes for Windows: Unable to view or play HD video content that requires HDCP

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3354

I would like to point out this section of the article to you:

High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a security feature requiring the use of HDCP certified products in order to display digital media like High-defintion (HD) video. In iTunes for Windows, in order to view HD content, both the display hardware (computer screen, LCD, external monitor, and so on) and video card driver must support HDCP.

Bearing that in mind, you may want to check this article to make sure your computer meets the necessary system requirements for HD video playback, assuming that HD videos are what you are purchasing/downloading:

iTunes: Purchasing and viewing HD videos

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3209

If those requirements are met, then you might want to refer to this article for Windows 7 or Windows Vista:

Troubleshooting iTunes for Windows Vista or Windows 7 video playback performance issues

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1718

or this article if you are using Windows XP:

iTunes for Windows XP: Troubleshooting video playback

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1386

Cheers,

Braden

I had the same issue. One day everything was playing properly, the next day nothing would play and the screen went black.

I went into ITunes - Edit - Preferences - Playback - I adjusted Preferred Video Version from HD 1080 to HD 720. Everything started working properly. I then switched it back to 1080 and it still worked fine.

I don't know why but it definitely worked.

My problem is similar. I can play music, but I cannot play any movie or video (including SD). Whatever point I start the movie at I can see a frozen image and I get about 5 seconds of audio, then the audio stops and the movie never advances (neither does the time-counter).

Here are my system specs (all of which meet or exceed Apple's requirements):

OS: Windows7 64-bit

Processor: 3.30 GHz AMD FX-8300

RAM: 32 GB (16 GB usable) DDR3 15600MHz

iTunes version: 10.7.0.21

Video: AMD Radeon R9 270 (verified with manufacturer - supports HDCP)

Display: Samsung SyncMaster 2333HD (verified with manufacturer - supports HDCP)

Resolution & connection: 1920x1080, HDMI

I've reviewed and checked all system requirements - all are met.

I've reviewed and verified all requirements listed in ts1718 (Troubleshooting iTunes for Windows Vista or Windows7 & video playback performance issues).

I tried jamesfromcommack's idea as well as all the recommendations listed in all the associated posts and articles I could find, none of them have resolved my issue. I know what the requirements are, and I meet or exceed them all. Can you or anyone provide any other assistance?

Thanks (in hope)

I finally solved this problem after days of hunting and debugging so wanted to share the answer. I have a Windows 7 PC, pretty decked out, but recently (I believe after upgrading to iTunes 12), all copy protected content (HDCP) stopped playing. It would just show a blank black screen where the video would play. I knew is was copy protected moving because my own home videos would play just fine (including 1080p HD ones). As soon as I would try to play a movie or music video that I had ripped or purchased through iTunes, it would not play.

Also, the same movies would play just fine on my iPad and Apple TV leading me to believe the problem was specific to this windows computer.

I checked everything. The solution for me was that I needed to run Apple Software Update to install a new version of QuickTime which apparently did not install properly with itunes. Once done, all cured. All videos including the HDCP movies play fine.

Start --> Apple Software Update and let it run. For me, it found a Quick Time and iCloud update (though I am assuming it was the quick time update that solved the problem, though I do not know for certain that the iCould update did not play into effect).

I hope this helps anyone else who may have this issue.

Ridiculous, I have ran into the same problems and no solution is fixing it. I installed quicktime 10 or whatever the latest version of quicktime is for Yosemite and then I installed quicktime 7 and tried updating to the latest quicktime and it won't even update quicktime. Now I'm stuck on quicktime 7. This is ridiculous, and Itunes rental service is a joke. I see that many people are having problems with this service and it's not just me. This is a bit upsetting for me because I don't understand how this is happening to so many people and that Apple hasn't done anything to correct their Itunes Video service as if just ignoring the problem will make it god away. 😢

I've been having the same problems, but only recently. Sometimes I can watch movies, sometimes I can't. One time I restarted my PC and it worked fine, just now I restarted and had the same problem.

I've seen the response about using HDCP, but that doesn't apply to me since I know that my system meets the requirements. I have a Sony Vaio running Windows 8.1, and I've run HD movies on here within the past two weeks. iTunes should be recognizing that my system meets the requirements. (I also tried switching the preferences to SD... no dice.)

What's going on here? This does appear to be a common problem.

I can't play HD videos on my Win7 PC, either, at least not the videos I bought from iTunes. They used to play but not anymore. I tried all the suggestions on this thread, to no avail. The iTunes app for PC has grown progressively buggy over the last while. Music albums split into two versions with some songs in one and the rest in another. Songs move to the top of the album's song list, regardless of its position on the album. Today I spent $50.00 on a live performance Rush album and the matching HD video. The album will play but the sound is terrible. The video will not play at all. I wasted $50 today. Gone!

It's probable that Apple has the skill to produce better software and to make available higher quality sound, but they certainly do not have the will to do it, or they would be doing it. I don't see any way to continue with iTunes.

I'll watch this thread for a fix to the HD video problem, but there will be no more business done with Apple until it is fixed.

jamesfromcommack, your solution worked for me. I opened preferences, switched to 720p, exited iTunes, then opened it again and videos would play. I switched back to 1080p, exited iTunes, then started it up again, and the videos play again. Thanks for your solution.

Yes, yes, yes. Same problem (HDCP can't be played), even trailers from the store (doesn't make sense but...). Just for interest I installed an older iTunes version (11.4) and tried to play a trailer (movie hercules) but it didn't work. Randomly everthing works fine till I restart iTunes. Randomly I get the HDCP error message.

This is so annoying, actually. I thought I had it resolved by using Jame's suggestion of going into preferences and changing display from 1080p to 720p and then back, exiting iTunes in between, but it's not consistently working. The moment I go to open a video in another playlist folder, I can't see the videos again. This happens with both legitimate music videos I purchased through iTunes and those I grabbed from YT and imported into iTunes. Sometimes they both work sometimes they don't, so it's not a copyright issue. I haven't tried the Quick Time solution yet.

Also, I can't seem to play some .m4a files I converted from YT videos. These should play in iTunes, but don't.

In the meantime, I guess I just go use another more reliable versatile video player VLC media player until Apple gets this **** thing figured out.

I've been having the same BS problem. The movies & TV Shows I purchased use to work fine. I've made *no* hardware changes to my PC. The only thing that has changed is Apple has updated Itunes for Windows. But I just get a black screen when playing any of their content. My Quicktime is up to date along with anything else I can find relating to video playback and system drivers. I've triple verified all my equipment is HDCP, but still Apple takes my money in Itunes and gives no support.

I found that I could play the videos directly through QuickTime, but there seems to be some problem between the newest version of iTunes and its connection to QuickTime. This is a brand new problem for me - I just noticed it today.

As far as I know iTunes doesn't use QuickTime (since 10.5). I uninstalled QuickTime and playing of videos ( no HDCP) still worked.

I don't know if I realy have a solution - at least for me. But when I don't start Adobe Creative Cloud at logon I'm able to play HDCP movies.

If I then start Adobe Creative Cloud manually (just to look for updates for instance) and shut it down afterwards it works most of the time (sounds fuzzy but I can't help).