Why isn't ATV able to play my movie rental through iTunes on my Mac?-I can see it on ATV through the computer icon but it won't play.

Question

So I've had my Gen 2 ATV for a little less than a year..it's been great...up to last week!  Now nothing downloads and all I get is ''able to view in 90 hours...all week it's not gone under 70 hours.   So I went to Itunes on my Mac and downloaded it again thinking it should show up as a rental through the computer on ATV..it does it's right there...but can I play it?  Heck no!  First it gets the icon showing its buffering..or whatever it's doing and it just stays there doing nothing..then I tried it again an hour later and I get an error message that I need to authorize my computer....I go back to check in Itunes and of course the computer is authorized.
I've just spent $12 on the same movie trying to get it to work and I'm just so over reading in all the forums but finding nothing that will fix this issue.  Does Apple even care?  Sooo many people with problems and no help to fix the issues.  THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH MY INTERNET CONNECTION!
How about Apple just fixing whatever it is that's wrong?  I can only think it has something to do with the last update I did since nothing has worked properly with movies since then.

Answer 1

Hello there, Abigail.
It sounds like you are unable to watch an HD download becuase of the message saying that your display must support HDCP. The following Knowledge Base article offers up nformation on why this message can pop up:
iTunes for Windows: Unable to view or play HD video content that requires HDCP
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3354
High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a security feature requiring the use of HDCP certified products in order to display digital media like High-defintion (HD) video. In iTunes for Windows, in order to view HD content, both the display hardware (computer screen, LCD, external monitor, and so on) and video card driver must support HDCP. For additional information on purchasing and viewing HD Videos, refer to iTunes: Purchasing and viewing HD Videos.
If you want to download the SD version you can do so from Purchases in iTunesas shown by this article:
iTunes 11 for Windows: Download previous purchases from the iTunes Store
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12491
Click iTunes Store near the top of the iTunes window.
Click the Purchased link at the right of the iTunes Store homepage (below Quick Links).
In the page that appears, select a category.
iTunes shows you which of your purchases are available for download. You can view all of your past purchases, or just the ones not currently in your iTunes library. Items already in your library aren’t available for download. 
If you select Music, you can view your purchases by song, artist, or album. If you’re viewing by album, click an album to see which songs on it are available for downloading. 
To search for an item, type its name or a keyword in the search field, and then press the Return key to view your search results.
To download an item, click its Download button .
Be sure to uncheck the Download HD When Available in the lower right corner before downloading the movie.
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.