Problem playing .m4v

I purchased a download from iTunes that I want to play on my TV, rather than small laptop screen. The file is .m4v. It is not seen by the TV Live player. I have tried renaming it to mp4 and it is seen but does not play, it did give a bit error message once. I gather there is no solution here :frowning:

An m4v is a protected apple format.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4V

Indeed it is. As the page you linked says M4V files can also be opened and played with Media Player Classic, RealPlayer, VLC media player…

Why not WD TV Live?

Not all M4Vs are protected.   The WD has no issue playing supported M4V files, if they’re not “DRM’d.”

I think it can be summarized like this.

All DRM’d Apple videos are M4V.

Not all M4V files are DRM’d Apple Videos.

If they ARE DRM’d, then neither Media Player, Real, or VLC will play them, either… only iTunes will play them.

So if you’re saying for YOUR files that VLC will play them but the WDTV won’t, then we’ll need to dig further.

Chipping in here to say I use programs (e.g. Handbrake) to make videos from my ISO files for use on an iPad.  They stream perfectly to the iPad, and play on the Live Plus, too.  The files that are created are m4v files, and they are not protected files.  They are just “different”.  In what way are they different, we wonder, so I found this at the Handbrake wiki:

MP4 vs M4v  

They are the exact same file, the only difference is the extension. MP4 vs M4v.

For MP4 files, HandBrake will automatically use the extension M4V when you pass-through audio (AC3), use SRT subtitles or have chapter markers enabled.  

You can simply change the file extension between .mp4 and .m4v as the file is exactly the same. There are no differences in the content or container itself.  

You can disable the option to automatically set this in HandBrakes preferences.

Note: QuickTime or any QT based application will not be able to play a MP4 file with these features enabled, unless it has the extension “.m4v”  


And, if the above didn’t confuse you  :wink:, see this discussion at the Mac Forum:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=441377

Google for “difference between mp4 and m4v” for more insightful confusion!

I think the important point from the first post is,
‘I purchased a download from iTunes’
This makes it likely that it is a protected file together with fact that it does not play.

Agree, with RichUK. 

Files purchased from Apple are deadly this way.  But, there is a way to play them to one’s TV, depending upon what hardware you have available.  For example, Apple (in their infinite wisdom) did NOT add a mini HDMI output port on their iThings (like my pocket video camera has).  They would rather sell people a rather pricey Digital A/V Adapter cable that can be jammed into the iPort of their iThing to mirror what is on the iThing screen via an HDMI cable that jams into the other end of the adapter and gets plugged into the TV.

There are various models of this adapter; depending on what generation iThing you need the cable for.  Today, there are 30pin and the new Lightning pin Adapter.  Even so, the adapter does not work with every model iThing.  For example, I recently bought a 30pin for our two iPads.  My wife’s Gen 3 works perfectly with it, my Gen 1 iPad can only show YouTube movies and photos with it attached.  That’s because the adapter came out when the Gen 2 iPad came out, so Gen 1 users are lucky that any media plays via this cable.  All this is spelled out at the Apple Store and what cable is compatible with what device is somewhere there in the small print.

Anyway, we recently watched a Livestream streaming video on our TV by using the adapter on Gen 3 iPad connected to the TV,  Worked great, but streaming live video concerts are still not quite “ready for prime:time”.  Movies, etc. work fine.

**bleep** DRM. I thought it was removed from iTunes, it is in all the music, I did not know it was stil there for film or I would never have bought it. I won’t buy an iPad to watrch this purchase!

And the film is only available for download  in iTunes :frowning:

No chance of a refund from Apple I suppose :-( 

boardtc wrote:

**bleep** DRM. I thought it was removed from iTunes, it is in all the music,

Oh HECK NO.   There’s still TONS of DRM’d music on iTunes.

@boardtv

 

Quote: And the film is only available for download  in iTunes :frowning:

 

Just curious, what movie does only  iTunes have ?  (That the rest of the online media world doesent have?)

 

 

@Joey Smyth -  http://www.wherethetrailends.com/

@boardtc

Ok, thanks … sure the collectors edition cost more … but  DVD & Bluray would’ve been an easier option in hindsight 

(at least they could be played on different players and backup up for personal use) :neutral_face:

not easier from a price point :mansad:

If you factor in the DRM, I’d say yes.