Until HBO Max finally fixes “can’t play title”playback errors on Apple TV 4K, this workaround may help resolve the issue.
- What is happening? HBO Max throws playback errors when users try to stream on its Apple TV 4K app (older models are not affected).
- Why care? For some, the problem is intermittent. For others, it’s consistent and can be quite annoying when trying to watch their favorite show.
- What to do? Try our troubleshooting steps until HBO Max resolves the issue.
HBO Max playback errors on Apple TV 4K? The fix is coming
Reddit posts indicate that people have had this problem for at least a week, if not longer. When this happens, the app throws a “Can’t play title”error message when you try to stream a movie or TV show. It appears to be sandboxed across all generations of Apple TV 4K and only affects tvOS 16.1 and not earlier releases.
HBO Max told The Verge that it is aware of the issue and is working on a fix.
For some, the problem remains constant, while for others, only intermittent errors occur. It first reared its ugly head in HBO Max update 52.50.1 released November 16, 2022.
To see the version number of the current HBO Max app, launch the App Store on your Apple TV and search for HBO Max in the store. Once you’ve found an app, select it to go to its page, and the version number will appear in the What’s New section.
In the meantime, try the following troubleshooting steps
Until a permanent fix is available in a future app update, you can resolve the issue by applying the standard troubleshooting steps:
- Force-pretty HBO Max
- Quit HBO Max
- Reinstall the app
- Restart Apple TV
There seems to be an issue with high dynamic range (HDR) content. Another Reddit thread says that disabling HDR and tweaking your video settings might fix the issue temporarily. Read: How to live stream to YouTube from iOS, iPadOS and macOS
The theme suggests going to Settings → Video & Audio to change the format to SDR, set Content Compliance to Disable, and disable Dynamic Range Compliance and Frame Rate Compliance. Of course, this is not ideal, because now all streaming apps on your Apple TV will lose Dolby Vision HDR until you return the video settings.
Support also suggested trying to switch the video resolution in the app itself from 4K to 1080p or even 720p.
The fix is coming
When HBO Max releases a hotfix update, your Apple TV will automatically install it. This may not happen immediately after an update is launched in the App Store.
Automatic updates are usually broken up over several weeks. To manually update your copy of HBO Max, go to the App Store on your device and search for HBO Max. If an app update is available, select Update.
You can update the tvOS software that your Apple TV is running by going to Settings → System → Software Updates → Update Software. If an update is available, select Download and Install and wait while your device downloads the update.
Then open HBO Max and try streaming again.