Movie Won't Download from iTunes on iPad

Question

I recently purchased two movies from iTunes using a gift card I got for Christmas. I started the download and once the first movie got too about 3.2 GB of 6.2' it stopped and started over for no apparent reason. I tried multiple times to download both movies with no luck the first 24 hours. Was hoping to have it for my flight for my vacation. Over the course of the next three days I have tried downloading the first movie at least 15 times on various WiFi networks, It always begins the download and then either restarts it on it's own or now gives me an error message saying the movie cannot be downloaded at this time, please try again later. I finally got the second movie to download after 10 attempts, but still no luck with the first. I know for certain I had a continuous WiFi connection every time. I am EXTREMELY frustrated at this point. I still have remaining dollars to spend from my gift card, but figure why even bother? I really hope someone can give me an idea which works. So far I have deleted the beginning download on multiple occasions and also tried restarting after this 4 times and nothing seems to work.

Answer 1

I have been having this problem since iOS 7 released.  I have a 32gb 3rd gen iPad.  I seem to have some artificial cap of 7 items from iTunes on my iPad at once.  Even with 6 movies I have 5.8gb left.  I only download the SD versions. 
As soon as I hit 7 movies/tv shows on my iPad downloads fail almost 100% of the time.  They get near the end, freeze and then loop.  Ocassionally I'll get a "Unable to download" error but most times it just keeps going over and over.  Not only do I have this extremely annoying issue, but during this problem my iPad becomes nearly unusable.  While downloading, my iPad runs so poorly I'll open my cover or press the wake button and the screen will remain off.  I can press both buttons, open/close the cover and NOTHING.  It will stay like that for a minute sometimes.  IF it becomes usable apps will take 30 seconds just to open/close, scrolling is unresponsive for many seconds at a time and then scrolls all at once.  It almost as if the download is using all of the CPU's power. 
I have 253 movies I've bought in iTunes.  I own 6 Apple TV's, 2 Retina Macbooks, 1 iMac, 2 iPads and 2 iPhones.  iTunes works great on all of those devices minus my iPad.  My wife's, which is the same model minus a cell connection is fine.  I am extremely annoyed with this problem.  I've started to loathe using my iPad and thats just rediculous. 
If anyone has suggestions I'm all ears, I've tried these fixes:
Erased all content/settings and restored from iCloud Back up
Erased all content/settings and restored but DID NOT use iCloud back up. (I did notice downloads worked great for the first few weeks, then went to crap.)
Tried force restarting the iPad when its acting up
Used my Time Capsule's Wifi - No change
Used my guest network from my Netgear router - No Change
Used my parent's wifi today - No change.
This doesnt seem to be a widespread problem, I've had trouble finding help on these forums.  Apple is constantly silent and most other users never reply with the same problem.  I'm close to giving up and getting a replacement from Square Trade.  I will not buy a new iPad less than two years after getting that one, mainly out of protest.  I have little confidence in the Air doing much better or lasting longer than this current one.