27" iMac (mid 2011) DVD player has sound but grey screen image?

The sound and grey screen issue is usually due to copy protection measures (HDCP) the Studios require Apple to include in their software. You generally encounter it when using screen sharing, using second displays or using HDMI 1.0 cables not 2.0.

I get it with my Mini connected to my TV which is controlled by my iOS devices as this setup required Remote Management turned on.

I have the same problem with a mid-2010 Mac Mini. Maybe it is related with the video hadware : my Mac Mini has a Nvidia GeForce 320 GPU. What does your iMac have ?

I just tried again, and it works fine... Very strange. The only related thing I have done is playing with the screen resolution a little bit... Maybe it can be a solution

Mid 2011 iMac. I've tried everything and nothing works. level 2 tech with Apple support, I guess, Has been looking at this since Tuesday. She got back with me today with an answer. Right click the app on the dock and under options choose change screen, or something like that. I don't have that option. Under options I have keep in dock, open on login and show in finder.

I'm at a loss but, this is extremely frustrating.

Experienced this issue but realised it was because I was sharing the screen, if that helps

I'm having the same issue on a 21.5" Mid 2011 iMac after upgrading to Mavericks. Any solution yet?

Try what seemed to work for me: changing back and forth the screen resolution. I had the problem once just after upgrading, but never since.

Fiddling with the display resolution seemed to do the trick for me as well. I was dealing mirrored displays with a Mac Mini and an external projector. I presume that making ANY change to the display settings will help. I'm guessing there is a corrupt preference file that gets overwritten by a clean file when you make a change, thus fixing the display issues.

My specific solution was this:

Open System Preferences > Displays

Enable Display Mirroring

Switch the "Optimize For:" setting to the alternate display option

Change the resolution to something else

Switch the "Optimize For:" setting back to the original display option

Set the resolution where you want it

I was having this issue too. I think the gray screen is a symptom of DRM trying to save us from pirates - if DVD Player thinks that something else could be capturing the video output, it turns the output gray.

In my case, the solution to the problem was to go into System Preferences -> Sharing and disable "Remote Management" and "Screen Sharing" - DVD Player immediately started working again. I suspect that many screen capture apps will cause DVD Player to go gray, so try disabling any you can find.

Thank you. This was puzzling me. I turned off a third screen attached via USB, and the problem went away.

It probably thought I was using the USB port to share the stream, even though I was viewing on the 27" iMac screen.

I am using Diamond - USB 2 Adapter for a 2nd screen. I unplugged it and DVD works again. Plug back in USB 2nd screen and then it goes GREY again.

So to watch a movie I have to UNPLUG my additional monitor before I can watch a movie and the movie I want to watch is meant to play on the other screen. Come on there must be some kind of setting or workaround. This seems way below Apple's level of brilliance for their products. I LOVE Apple products. I hope that someone has a workaround other than losing the exact monitor I want to use to watch the movies on in the first place. :-) That wold really suck.

PS: I have adjusted ALL of the settings in the SHARE settings. I have adjusted the resolution on the monitor to all different settings. I have tried every recommended thing on this page and other topic pages. Only thing that has worked thus far is to remove the monitor I want to watch movies on. WEEP.

Thanks, Steve, for the comments on the additional monitor.

On my iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) on El Capitan 10.11.2, unplugging a third monitor which I use through a Zotac USB to HDMI adaptor (DisplayLink Mac 2.4 driver) fixed the grey screen for me, too.

(I use my second monitor through a Thunderbolt to HDMI adaptor.)

VLC 2.21, however, plays the DVD without having to unplug the monitor.

Mike

Thank You Mike - THIS IS AWESOME - I also have VLC and for some reason never tried it. I have and it works like a charm. ALL THREE MONITORS WORKING. THANK YOU SO MUCH. Have a Great 2016. Thanks again. Steve Lochmiller SiteSolutions.Com

i was having this issue too. it started once I upgrade from 10.6. I wasn't able to turn off remote management as the mac mini is hooked up to a TV a controlled via an iPad. VLC worked a treat.

Finally, an answer that worked for me. Thank you!

Why would mac have dvd software that doesn't work? These guys are beginning to look like Microsoft. Thanks again!