Grey screen in iTunes when playing downloaded movie

i seem to be having a similiar issue. i also have a mac mini (2011) and playback of itunes store movies shows a grey screen. if you change from full screen to windowed mode you can catch a glimpse of the film for a single frame but then it goes back to grey again. i've tried it through both my reciever and directly into my tv (both over HDMI) with teh same result so i don't think it's the reciever or the tv. next i'm going to try hooking the mini up to the tv via VGA. will report back.

well that didn't work either. 2 seconds into playback (screen still grey btw) i got the following message:

but since the grey screen is similiar to when i'm using HDMI i wonder if it's a problem with the Mini's graphics card driver or something. at any rate it really really STINKS and needs fixing!

note: my itunes purchased films seem to playback fine on my macbook pro and my appletv (2nd gen)

Message was edited by: hellbent.t.destructor, typo and added note

problem fixed. suddenly realized i was controlling my mini via RDP (from macbook and from iphone and ipad using an app that lets you use those idevices as a trackpad). the RDP connection is in conflict with the HDCP because you can see the image remotely and so i was getting no picture. i disconnected all of my RDP connections and put batteries back into my trackpad and it works!

Hi - I am having a similar issue and have dug around both these forums and the web but there are a lot of differing opinions and almost no solutions. I'm using a late 2012 mac mini and going HDMI (monoprice high speed cable) to a new Sony LED TV. I've gotten the grey box on both HD and SD video I've purchased from iTunes. I did not get that HDCP message however. I did check and my TV apparantly supports HDCP 2.2. I even tried to play an HD purchased movie just via QT X and same thing.

I have an Apple TV on a different TV and have not yet tried it - I will but it is an Apple TV 2 so I will only get 720P if it works. Ultimately I would like my mac mini to be my media server connected this new TV. If anyone can shed any light on this, it would be great.

Thnks in a dvance.

Steve

interesting. I've been accessing my mini via my MBP-screensharing and controlling it that way. I will see if using a mouse and keyboard to the mini makes any difference.

I have solved this!

For me, the problem was controlling teh mac mini via screen sharing on my MBP. I downloaded the Apple Remote app to my iPad. If I use that to control iTunes on the mini, both SD and HD purchased content plays perfect on my TV now from mac mini to TV with HDMI cable.

Steve

Switching back to a trackpad doesn't actually "solve" the problem, at least it doesn't for me.

I have a Mini I use as a media server. I control it via VNC from my Windows gaming laptop, have been through VLC for years. But now that I've bought content from iTunes and try to watch it IN iTunes, I'm being delayed. I'm not even being STOPPED - I can use keyboard commands to change the volume or whatever - but it's being made way more difficult than it should.

Why is iTunes graying out the screen, and how do I make it STOP?

So I just hit this same issue and the fix is to uncheck System Preferences->Sharing->Remote Management.

Its a bit of a rub if you use remote management and watch videos..

Turn it on and off. I assume its some sort of copyright protection issue.

THIS resolved the issue

Sorry, but no. This may be a work-around for people who control the computer directly but it doesn't solve my media center problem - if you disable remote management, you can't VNC into the computer, which is the whole issue for me in the first place. It's definitely copy protection interference.

I can accept copy protection as a necessary evil in theory, but this is stupid - if I buy/rent content, I should be able to watch it on whatever computer I want regardless of the connection type or VNC/remote management being active or not or any other tertiary issue. This does nothing but get in my way and prevent legitimate use of the content I've paid to license.

I will NOT purchase video content from Apple until this DRM implementation is changed. I'm not redistributing or sharing the content and I'm not running a movie theater out of my home. All this copy protection does is drive people away from this distribution channel.

Nice job, Apple et. al. Super classy.

Oh, Apple, sometimes you drive me mad.

I filed a bug report. Seriously????

17852793 iTunes move plays only audio, no video, gray screen

Apple Developer Relations13-Aug-2014 10:23 AM

Engineering has determined that this issue behaves as intended.

Boo to Apple.

So basically, media purchased through iTunes can't be served from a media server to other screens in your house.