Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

TV Show Playback Not Working: Black screen

Hey there, everyone.


So, this problem has had me running all around the Apple community, uninstalling, re-installing both iTunes and multiple other things on my computer and having no luck with any of the potential solutions I've found. As such, I'm submitting this question here now and hopefully I will get a solution to this very irritating problem.


I recently upgraded my computer (CPU and motherboard). Now whenever I try to watch the TV shows that I've purchase and downloaded through iTunes I just get a black screen with about three seconds of audio before it stops. However, they play perfectly fine in Quicktime.


I'll list out the things that I have tried that have not resulted in a solution to the problem:

  • Uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes (using the proper uninstallation order outlined by Apple)
  • Using an older version of iTunes: current version is 11.1.1, tried rolling back to 10.7.
  • Disabling DirectX and Direct3D acceleration.
  • Using an older NVIDIA GPU driver: current version is 327.23, tried rolling back to 320.49 (the driver I had before I upgraded)
  • Deleting the backed up versions of my shows and redownloading them.


If there's some solution that I'm unaware of I would love to hear it! 🙂 I've been wrestling with this issue for several days and it's really irritating me that I can't find any sort of way to fix it. I know I could just watch them in Quicktime but I'm a bit picky and Quicktime (for some reason) makes the shows I bought look incredibly washed out.


It should also be noted that I am not using Apple TV, as I've seen solutions on here referring to it. I'm just trying to watch TV shows through iTunes on my computer.


Help, please! D:


Also, here are my system specs:


Windows 7 64-bit

ASUS Sabertooth 990 FX R2.0

AMD FX 8350 Vishera @ 4.33 GHz

16 GBs of RAM

NVIDIA EVGA GTX 580 3 GB

Windows 7

Posted on Oct 9, 2013 10:34 AM

Reply
5 replies

Oct 11, 2013 12:51 PM in response to Dr. Clocknik

Hello Dr. Clocknik,


Thank you for the details of the issue you are experiencing with video playback in iTunes. You have taken some really great troubleshooting steps already, but I found an article with additional steps you can take. I recommend reviewing the following article (you can skip any of the steps you have already tried):


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

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1718


Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.


Best,

Sheila M.

Oct 11, 2013 9:48 PM in response to Dr. Clocknik

As of right now I have reinstalled iTunes once again, cleared out the AppData folder of any errant Apple files, and attempted to play one of my TV shows.


Same exact result: black screen, three seconds of audio.


It should be noted that when attempting to watch from the cloud, the issue is slightly different: three seconds of audio, then the video plays with no audio.

TV Show Playback Not Working: Black screen

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.