iTunes, HDCP, VGA & a Dongle... oh my!

[VeroBellamy]

Hello,

So, I am using iTunes (the latest version, 12.5.5.5) and I have a pretty large video library. I have my monitor hooked up to my mid-2013 15" Retina MacBook Pro via the included VGA cable and a Mini DisplayPort to VGA dongle. When I attempt to play movies I purchased on iTunes, some movies pause roughly 5 seconds into the video and I cannot get them to resume playback.

This problem self-solves when I drag the iTunes player window from my HP monitor to my rMBP's monitor. However, I don't want to watch movies on my broken 15" Retina MacBook Pro's monitor, I want to watch them on my new, bigger monitor. Can this problem be sorted and if so, how? I would like to add that I haven't tried connecting the monitor via HDMI, as I don't have a spare HDMI cable right now, but if that's the only way to sort this issue out, then I'll try it.

Edit: It's also worth noting that the iTunes window did have a dialogue box pop up once talking about HDCP.

[TheOldMan]

From a Google search:

High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of digital audio and video content as it travels across connections.

iTunes is telling you that you cannot watch the content in the manner described.  It means that the content can only be watched on the device were it was downloaded from the iTunes store.  Moving it to another monitor constitutes a violation  of Digital Content Protection (HDCP).

[VeroBellamy]

Yeah, but this is not the reason for three reasons:

1. As I said in my original post, the video plays fine when I drag the iTunes window onto my Retina MacBook Pro's main window but when I try to drag it to the HP Pavilion 22cwa, it won't play.
2. On the product description, it reads "Connectivity: VGA and HDMI (with HDCP support)", so the monitor should support this.
3. Your iTunes content isn't only viewable on one device. For example, I have an iPhone and an Apple TV. I can transfer my videos to and from my iPhone and my Apple TV can stream my purchased movies from iTunes without issue.

[VeroBellamy · Accepted solution]

Never mind, I found my answer. Per Apple's own documentation:

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9. Does the Apple Mini DisplayPort adapter support HDCP?

Apple Mini DisplayPort adapters that offer digital connections—such as the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter and the Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter—support HDCP content. Apple Mini DisplayPort adapters that offer analog connections—such as the Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter—do not support HDCP content.

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So, in other words, I do need to use an HDMI cable to connect to my monitor, since there is no DVI input option for this monitor. It's not a matter of not googling, it's a matter of what you google and I tried a combination of things like "iTunes playback troubleshooting", "iTunes pauses after five seconds", "HP Pavilion 22cwa HDCP" and finally, "HDCP Mini DisplayPort VGA dongle"