Silent and grey iTunes movie rentals at bioneural.net

Well behind the American iTunes Store, earlier this month (June 2008) Apple gave iTunes Store customers in the UK the chance to rent (or purchase) movie downloads. Initially I wasn't sure I'd want to watch movies at my computer, even though I have a good screen and sound system. But I had to try it. With a 17Mbps downstream broadband connection getting the movie onto the computer posed no problem (a typical 1GB movie takes a few minutes). Trouble is all I see is a grey box with no audio. Now that I can't do it, of course I'm more inclined to want to.

My iTunes Store account allows me to playback my DRM-protected iTunes music, a free TV episode, and a purchased short film with no problems. I'm running the latest version of OS X (10.5.3) with the latest version of iTunes (7.6.2) and QuickTime (7.5). I've now tried renting two films, hearing nothing and seeing only this during desktop playback:

Hmmm.. if I wanted to look at nothing but dull grey I shouldn't have to pay for it—I can just look out the window at English skies.

Oddly, when I moved the movie onto my iPhone I could watch it (and hear it) as expected. It seems I'm not alone having this issue, according to discussion in the Apple Support Forums. A number of suggestions have been made, most of which I have tried to no avail:

Re-installed QuickTime 7.5 (on top of the previous: there is no "uninstaller");
Re-installed iTunes;
Removed Perian and Flip4Mac WMV;
Disabled the OS X Firewall;
Bought music after renting the movie;
Moved the movie to iPhone and back again.

I explained all this to Apple using the "Report a problem" option in iTunes Accounts. They said:

If you see a grey screen when you try to play or preview a video, you probably need to install the latest QuickTime upgrade.

I replied, politely asking if they perhaps had an alternative suggestion, or whether they would simply recommend I stick to my local video store. They said my "request is flagged for follow-up".

If anyone else has had this issue and have successfully resolved it themselves please do share how (my faith in help/ support desks is rather fragile).

Update 09.07.08: I don't know how, but rental playback in iTunes is now working. The only thing I noticed was that I was signed out of iTMS at the time, having paid a visit to another Store. Beats me!

Last modified July 9th, 2008.

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8 responses to Silent and grey iTunes movie rentals

1 David
Jun 23rd, 2008 at 7:27 pm

I guess I must be lucky, but as I type I'm watching "I'm a Leg-end" sorry "I Am Legend" - my first download.

I have Perian and Flip4Mac installed as well?
2 Bruce
Jun 23rd, 2008 at 7:39 pm

Hah! That was the first one I rented too: disappointing. Good to know it works for you with Perian and Flip4Mac. I just got my "follow-up" response from Apple; they're refunding the rental fee and have "submitted the movie for investigation". Don't think they'll get far, since the movie itself can't be at fault (you and many others can view it; I viewed it on iPhone). There's a bug in their iTunes rental DRM code somewhere... curious to know if I bought the film now (cf. rental) if it would play normally. But not curious to the tune of £11!
3 David
Jun 24th, 2008 at 1:44 am

I'm just wondering if it's all optimised for the Dual Core Intel chip?
4 Bruce
Jun 24th, 2008 at 5:24 am

Apple said:

To rent or purchase movies, you need iTunes 7.6 or later and QuickTime 7.4 or later and must meet the "Additional Video Requirements", which are listed on this page under the Windows/Macintosh system requirements:

http://www.itunes.com/download

I have a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo, so if a G4 is OK I doubt it's my hardware.
5 Charles
Mar 24th, 2009 at 1:31 pm

The article iTunes videos play as grey resolved my issue- basically, just updated to Quicktime to 7.6.
6 Dave
Apr 26th, 2009 at 4:53 pm

I have had this problem with a number of movie and tv shows I've bought. When I get the gray screen, I simply quit iTunes and relaunch it, and the problem has always gotten resolved. Don't know if that's much help. Good luck.

PS I also have Perian and Flip4Mac installed.
7 Will Gant
Nov 27th, 2009 at 3:43 am

I'm running Windows XP Pro, just tried to watch my digital copy of UP! on Itunes, grey screen, no sound. Decided, hell, Ill try Windows Media Player...but of course silly me, it only works once, so I'm stuck without a copy. I don't use Ipods, I don't like Iphones, I just use Itunes because its better for music. Something tells me its not worth asking for help from Apple.

Over a year later and they still have not fixed the problem
8 esther
Feb 28th, 2010 at 9:36 pm

hello
I know you posted this a long time ago now, but in case anyone is looking for a solution, this might work. We were have the same grey screen problem, and found that it was due to not having enough space in the c or d drive, whichever one the rentals were going to. Purchased films came in ok, or gave a warning when not enough space, but not rented. We made more space, and has worked fine since. Hope this helps

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