iTunes 12 won't play ANY Movies

[Rian Gray]

Title really says it all. I can't play any movies in iTunes Library through iTunes. For some reason it works on quicktime though. Everything else works perfectly.

And more importantly, I can't purchase any movies either. (musics still work perfectly!)

I'm wondering how many people are experiencing the same issues.
And if there is any quick fix to this.

 

[charlituna]

Title really says it all. I can't play any movies in iTunes Library through iTunes. For some reason it works on quicktime though. Everything else works perfectly.

And more importantly, I can't purchase any movies either. (musics still work perfectly!)

I'm wondering how many people are experiencing the same issues.
And if there is any quick fix to this.

I'm not having this issue. I wonder though if it's cause my iTunes library file was a clean start.

 

[Rian Gray]

I'm not having this issue. I wonder though if it's cause my iTunes library file was a clean start.

That gave me an idea to try something out. Thanks!

I tried rebuilding library files, it didn't work. So I just backed up all my previous library, and then created a new one.

It works, I just have to download everything from iTunes Match again all the movies, and all the TV shows. Or #1 keep it light and save it all on iTunes Match instead. Or #2 copy paste all the musics and movies from backup.

I'm not sure if it's even a glitch anymore. I'm still able to access iTunes Store and some say iTunes 12 is supposed to have blocked everyone out of store. Is this even true?

At any rate, I still can't purchase any movies from iTunes Store. iTunes still freezes if I try to buy a movie while it perfectly works with musics.

 

[Rian Gray]

I found something weird.

iTunes store & playing movies won't work on my MBP 17" (early 2011) but it works on my MBA 11" (late 2010), purchasing a movie worked perfectly as well. I didn't try connecting backup to Macbook Air, but my guess is it would work.

I'll have to try this on my iMac 27" (late 2012), but I'm guessing it would work as well. I don't know what could've possibly caused this, but this might as well just be a glitch happening only on MBP 17" (hardware?) or just my system.

I guess it just adds one more reason on my list of "why I should get rid of my no more good-old MBP and get new one."

 

[Rian Gray]

I think I found the cause: fragmentation.

I'm not kidding, I'm not even trying to make a joke. Everything works perfectly on Macbook Air. Everything works perfectly on Apple TV (even through home sharing!). Everything probably works perfectly on iMac (hadn't have a chance to check). Then if so, I can only come up with one answer: fragmentation.

Funny thing is I can still play the video file with quicktime. iTunes can still pop a window for Finder. My backup HDD works perfectly with MBA, so my bet is on library file is not corrupt at all.

While I can post the entire problem details, I couldn't make a post longer than certain characters. If anyone is willing to take a look, let me know if there is an alternative website to post the error codes.

So yeah, I will wait till 2nd build of public beta and see if that fixes anything.

 

[sulliweb]

If it's the same thing I'm seeing, and you want something else to try...

Under the Playback tab change the Preferred Video Version to SD content instead of HD. I haven't tried to rebuild the library, but I stream everything through iTunes on this Mac. HD doesn't work for me, but SD works just fine.

 

[Rian Gray]

If it's the same thing I'm seeing, and you want something else to try...

Under the Playback tab change the Preferred Video Version to SD content instead of HD. I haven't tried to rebuild the library, but I stream everything through iTunes on this Mac. HD doesn't work for me, but SD works just fine.

Wow, this is just amazing. Thanks for a new idea.

Like you said, some of the SD movies work. I never thought only the old ones would work, the ones that I bought before 2010 in SD. However, ones that I have both HD and SD copy, I still can't play it.

I'm wondering how could this have possibly happened. I mean, MBP has obviously larger display then MBA, and how could this be even related to Stores issue. Everything worked fine till iTunes 11, and now with 12, Mac is being picky with HD? (just kidding of course)

Anyway, I suppose this could all mean there will be a bug fix available soon.

 

[sulliweb]

Wow, this is just amazing. Thanks for a new idea.

Like you said, some of the SD movies work. I never thought only the old ones would work, the ones that I bought before 2010 in SD. However, ones that I have both HD and SD copy, I still can't play it.

I'm wondering how could this have possibly happened. I mean, MBP has obviously larger display then MBA, and how could this be even related to Stores issue. Everything worked fine till iTunes 11, and now with 12, Mac is being picky with HD? (just kidding of course)

Anyway, I suppose this could all mean there will be a bug fix available soon.

Do you actually have a downloaded SD copy of the ones that won't play? You set the preference, but it'll still go for the local content first. A few years ago, maybe 2010, Apple stopped automatically delivering SD copies alongside HD copies, so some of the stuff might only have a local HD copy. If that's the case, you might try deleting one of the videos that won't work and stream it from Apple.

Everything I've streamed in SD, even really current stuff, has worked.

 

[AlanMW2]

Same Problem

I have a mid 2013 Macbook Air running OSX 10.10 and I unknowingly downloaded (rented) a movie from the itunes store just to find out it is unplayable. I got the HD version of the movie while i am here on vacation and now i am stuck. To make it even worse, by clicking play now (even though itunes stops responding) my 24 hour window for watching the movie has started. Goodbye to my $6.

DONT rent a movie from iTunes running OSX Yosmite.

Oh, and in my case there is nothing I can do, I have tried almost everything. Even gone as far as uninstalling itunes 12, then reinstalling itunes 11. Still wont work. Seems to be a OSX problem.

 

[benji888]

I have the Yosemite public beta & itunes 12 on my mid-2010 macbook pro 13 2.4G.

A few days ago I downloaded (purchased) and watched a movie, no problems. Yesterday I purchased and downloaded a movie, then tried to watch and it won't play, itunes hangs (spinning ball). After force quit and such, I tried something else and it started to play, then that movie again, won't play. ...Now none of my movies will play.

So, it's not dependent upon which mac you're on, something else is amiss.

I tried dumping preferences, no change.

I ran disk warrior, it found a bunch of stuff, replaced directory, still won't play.

I'm not sure what else to trash that could be corrupt, I know there are other preferences, possibly hidden, somewhere, not sure where to look, or if that will even help.

Anyone have a fix?

edit: oh, yeah, and I've wanted to try installing itunes 12 again, but, can't do this from App store, which is where I got it from (update came up after installing Yosemite beta) ... (this NEEDS to be fixed, I should be able to re-install or un-install something I've purchased.), and tried searching here, tried Apple's itunes site, but, only 11 comes up.

 

[benji888]

Problem Solved...at least for now.

I couldn't get that movie to play with VLC nor Mac Media Player, so

I deleted iTunes via this method: http://osxdaily.com/2012/02/06/delete-itunes-mac-os-x/

restart

I then tried to play w/quicktime (hadn't tried yet), and that worked, others still did not work.

I downloaded the latest itunes 11 from apple, installed it

restart

I then tried to use itunes 11, but, got the message that the itunes library was from a newer version of itunes, so it could not open.

went to app store software updates and it detected I had itunes 11 w/yosemite, so it offered itunes 12...I updated

restart

everything seems fine, problem solved...at least for now.

 

[kappaknight]

Mine won't play a music video the first time, but I tried it after a reboot and it seemed to work. I'm not 100% sure what I did in between to "fix" the issue other than a reboot during that time.

 

[Ian*]

Looks like I can play files that are mp4 but not m4v.

 

[Forrêt]

I am having an even more bizarre issue.

I really hope someone can navigate me to dissect this issue because I have never had this happen or even heard of it happening before, but if anyone can help solve it that would be greatly appreciated…

K.. Here goes.. I have movies on my computer… Mp4, avi, etc… I have watched these movies before, many times in the past…. Just recently I have tried watching and opening several of my movies in EVERY player imaginable (VLC, MPlayer OSK, Quicktime, Quicktime pro 7, iTunes), and nothing will play them all of a sudden… APPARENTLY my movies are not recognizable files, this is the message I get every time I try.…. Even though I have watched them many times before a few months back.….. Anyone care to dissect this stupid issue?? Do I simply need to update something for ALL of my movies to be recognized?

Thanks all.

 

[BuckNrut]

I have been unable to play movies in iTunes lately also. I can re install flash player and then play the movies fine.

However after I shut computer down and back on the issue comes back until I re install flash player.

 

[Alienraygun]

Title really says it all. I can't play any movies in iTunes Library through iTunes. For some reason it works on quicktime though. Everything else works perfectly.

And more importantly, I can't purchase any movies either. (musics still work perfectly!)

I'm wondering how many people are experiencing the same issues.
And if there is any quick fix to this.

MBP mid 2015 and iTunes 12.4.1.6
Same problem.

First solution: After buying Star Wars HD it wouldn't play. Didn't find any solutions googling it. I complained to Apple and they gave me a full refund. Later I found it worked ok on my iPad.

Second solution: months later, just tonight I tried again with Empire Strikes Back HD. Wouldn't play. I tried turning off anything in the sharing preference pane after reading some comments about DRM. Not sure if this worked because I had started the movie and got a black screen with the spinning beachball while I was messing around in prefs. About 5 mins later while still googling the problem the movie started playing. It seems if I let it sit for a while it eventually starts playing. Not ideal but it at least I can watch it.