Video playback is not supported on this computer?

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Level 1

9 points

Video playback is not supported on this computer?

Why is video playback suddenly 'not supported' on the the two computers we have in the house?

After battling for months with Apple to get a serious problem with proxy servers resolved, which was finally fixed in iTunes 12.2, I've now run in to a new problem.

In an early version of iTunes 11, which was the last version of iTunes where I could access the store without it crashing due to the shockingly awful proxy support in later versions, I was able to watch preview videos fine, even through our web proxy.

However now, go to preview any film, music video, or any kind of video content...

..we now see this message every time.

But what's really weird is music videos I've already downloaded from the iTunes store, or videos I've recorded play perfectly fine.

So the problem is limited to previews.

Both computers this is happening on contain AMD Radeon graphics cards, complete with the latest AMD Catalyst drivers which are Catalyst version 14.12 and the cards themselves are relatively recent models. One is a Radeon HD 7870, the other is a Radeon R9 290. They're both gaming grade graphics cards, so they should have no problem playing videos. I know they play games brilliantly.

I know both cards support HDCP (High Definition Content Protection), however our monitors don't, they're oldish VGA monitors. But why would this prevent me from watching previews? Protecting previews with HDCP is utterly pointless, who would want to copy it. I don't think HDCP is the culprit.

So either, iTunes doesn't like streaming video over our proxy, or there's (yet) another bug in iTunes.

Any suggestions?

iTunes-OTHER, Windows 7, iTunes version 12.1.2.27

Posted on Jul 4, 2015 7:21 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Nov 18, 2015 2:51 AM in response to Someone7272

So far I don't have any problems watching iTunes Store previews on my Mac mini, or on a Windows PC viewed over remote desktop from the Mac which you would think would trigger problems if HDCP was involved. I've also seen posts from people who have existing content that will no longer play. One has noted that it is digital downloads of Blu-Ray content that won't play for them.

tt2

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Answer 2

Oct 23, 2015 6:30 AM in response to Someone7272

It just happened to me on iTunes 12.3.1.23 x64 on Windows 10 Pro while trying to see a preview of a Podcast, without downloading.

I just downloaded the iTunes setup file fromiTunes 12.3.1 for Windows (64-bit - for older video cards)

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Answer 3

Someone7272 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 4, 2015 9:55 AM in response to mauer_uk07

Windows 7 Pro x64 here. Thanks for trying but I have already tried this but it didn't fix the problem. Hardly a suprise, none of our video cards are what I'd consider 'old'.

This is still ongoing and not resolved. Remember, videos already downloaded or recorded outside of iTunes work correctly.

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Nov 17, 2015 7:21 PM in response to Someone7272

In some cases not only do you need the for older video cards version, but you also need to install QuickTime. On the other hand if it is an HDCP issue on a system that previously played the same content then it might be one for iTunes Feedback, or sign up for a free Apple Developer Connection account and make use of Apple Bug Reporter. They don't generally talk back, but they do claim to read everything. Sometimes things get fixed, but they generally have to get reported first. This is possibly one of those things that only show up in real world libraries rather than internal testing.

Any chance you could point in the direction of one of the previews that fails for you?

tt2

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Answer 5

Someone7272 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 18, 2015 1:49 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi tt2,

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately, we have always had Quicktime installed and updated as necessary. I have tried both the old video card version and the release version of iTunes, and the problem is the same, so I went back to the release version of iTunes.

The problem is happening multiple PCs, so I am believing that this might be a bug.

I also don't think you would need HDCP just to watch previews because that's just stupid.

It isn't relevant what specific previews don't work, because any video content on the iTunes store won't play and produces that message. For example, if I go a music video I've purchased previously, the preview doesn't work, but once I've downloaded it, the video plays fine in iTunes.

Video content (incl. previews) does work on my iOS 6 iPhone 4S though (only via 3G, not tested on Wi-Fi)

I think I will have to use the Apple Bug reporter, just like I had to earlier this year to get a problem with proxies sorted. If it's happening on more than one PC, then I'm getting worried. It would be nice if they told you why "Video playback is not supported on this computer".

In my experiences with Apple Developer Bug reporter, they will reply back to you, but usually after long delays of like 2-3 weeks. They might get you to create a dump file, which usually helps them to find the part of code which is causing the failure.

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