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Watch iTunes movies on Roku

Can I use Roku Media Player to watch movies I purchased on iTunes?


According to the Roku support website (https://support.roku.com/en-ca/article/208754908-how-to-use-roku-media-player-to -play-your-videos-music-and-photos) their media player supports H.264/AVC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV) formats. My understanding is that movies purchased on iTunes are in M4V format and have DRM protection. I found a program called Tune4Mac **** that supposedly allows you to convert an iTunes movie into MP4 format, but I'm not sure if it's legit, safe, legal, etc., so I welcome feedback about this program and alternative options. Roku, themselves, recommend using Handbrake, but when I went to download it, there was a security alert for Mac users about a Trojan that may have infected computers that recently installed the software, so now I'm concerned that Handbrake may not be safe.


Obviously, I've done some research, but this stuff gets confusing if you're not familiar with the terminology, so I'm hoping to get some clarity/insight here. Thanks so much!


Note: I'm behind the times and still using Yosemite on my 2010 MacBook Pro. I have the Roku Streaming Stick (https://www.roku.com/en-ca/products/streaming-stick).

VIN, MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), Roku Streaming Stick

Posted on May 12, 2017 4:55 PM

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Dec 26, 2017 4:15 PM in response to harmony950

Movies Anywhere can connect to your iTunes account. So if whatever you have in iTunes is MoviesAnywhere compatible, then you can watch it that way. That being said, MoviesAnywhere can connect to Vudu, which is compatible on Roku. So iTunes > MoviesAnywhere > Vudu > Roku. Hope this helps!

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Aug 1, 2017 6:59 PM in response to harmony950

Generally speaking, iTunes movies are encrypted by FairPlay DRM technology, which are allowed to play on Apple-approved devices. If you want to watch iTunes movies on TV, maybe you should buy an Apple TV to achieve the goal. By the way , maybe you can use this smart tool, namely DRmare M4V Converter to help you enjoy iTunes movies on your Roku.

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Sep 20, 2017 12:22 AM in response to harmony950

If you buy a movie and want to watch it on your TV you need to convert it to another format supported by your player or play it using itunes with your computer connected to your TV. Several programs will perform the conversion and there are several methods of displaying your PC on your TV. Look up the one you wish to use.

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Jan 1, 2018 9:27 PM in response to PaulasIphone

It is my understanding that Movies Anywhere has negotiated the right to make available purchased or rented movies from most, but not all studios. That is the limiting factor. For example, my movies from Paramount, like The Godfather, that I purchased from Amazon does not show up in Movies Anywhere. However, most studios do allow their purchased content on Movies Anywhere.

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Jan 1, 2018 9:43 PM in response to VirginiaJeff

VirginiaJeff wrote:


So, we don't own something we bought?

Correct. You never do, even on DVD. You have purchased a license to view it. I am presuming most studios require any third party to re-distribute movies in an encrypted format to prevent piracy. As you can tell from reading all these posts there are several different formats for this, plus another company that seems to aggregate these under its own distribution. If you are content to view it with Apple software then your copy is openly accessible to you. If you want to use a third party to expand on this usage then the third party will likely wish to charge a fee for its services which are additional to the payment to Apple.

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Watch iTunes movies on Roku

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