A movie no longer can be played on iTunes

[Howard Brazee]

I have had a movie on iTuned for years. A couple of days ago, iTunes got the dreaded beach ball when synchronizing to my iPad Pro - while synchronizing the .mov file. I killed iTunes & removed that movie from iTunes, and all of my other movies synchronized, including other .mov files. I played that movie using the QuickTime player - it played with no problem.

I tried playing that movie in iTunes - beach ball. I removed it again, and converted the movie to a .m4v file. I tried playing that .mv4 version. Beach ball. I've played that movie on my iPad and on iTunes in the past.

What changed? Is there a work-around?

 

[honestone]

We need to know the following:

1. What exact Mac OS are you using?

2. What exact Mac model do you have?

3. Are you making any backups to an external device?

4. Have you done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs?

 

[Howard Brazee]

1. 10.12
2. iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)
3. I use Time Machine.
4. I ran First Aid this morning - it did not find any problems.

This morning I found the site that had the movie (http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/) and downloaded a higher def version of the movie (I know it's higher def because QuickTime offered me a chance to convert to iPad 2 version - the old version would only convert to the iPad or iPhone versions). I downloaded a 4.4 Gb .mp4 movie and was able to load it onto iTunes 12.5.1.21. But when I plugged in my iPad, it wouldn't transfer. So I deleted it from iTunes, opened QuickTime Version 10.4 (883.7), and converted it to the iPad 2 version. When I dragged the .m4v file to iTunes, I got the beach ball again.

 

[honestone]

How did you "get to" OS 10.12? Did you just upgrade from El Capitan?

Also, I suspect you did not run First Aid in an "isolated" manner. As it is, that needs to be done "externally". Also, it is certainly prudent to perform disk cleanup. First Aid does not do that for you.

 

[Howard Brazee]

OK, I just shut down my computer, started it with command-R, and ran the disk utility on both the disk and the disk image. Both were instantaneous. I always upgrade my OS on all of my devices and my wife's devices as soon as I learn there's an upgrade available. I believe that's always the first day. I'm not sure when this last upgrade occurred.

 

[honestone]

OK, that's good you are familiar with Command-R.

Also, there are always issues with the initial release of a new OS, and Sierra is no exception. Here is a link that describes some of them:

http://osxdaily.com/2016/09/24/troubleshooting-macos-sierra-problems/

The first upgrade to Sierra, OS 10.12.1, is currently in beta testing, and will most likely be released at the end of October. Not sure, though, if any of this addresses your issues.

It would still be a good idea, though, if you do some disk cleanup. In fact, the more, the better.

 

[Howard Brazee]

I always forget which key sequence is which, but looking it up is very quick. I liked it when I could pick the rebooting from a menu before rebooting, but can't find how I did that - maybe it's not available anymore.