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45-529: [REDACTED] Look up hard luck in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Hard Luck may refer to: Hard Luck (2006 film) , an American thriller film Hard Luck (1921 film) , an American silent comedy film Hard Luck, Michigan , a ghost town in Gladwin County, Michigan, U.S. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck , a children's novel by Jeff Kinney Hard Luck,

90-713: A $ 200,000 reward which had been offered by the police for information leading to the capture, arrest, and or prosecution of the Sawtooth Killers. Hard Luck is set and was filmed in Rhode Island. Part of the film was made at the University of Rhode Island's W. Alton Jones Campus. Filming lasted 56 days, from 3 October to 28 November 2005. DVD was released in Region 1 in the United States on October 17, 2006, and also Region 2 in

135-437: A DVD video player because of the restrictions that limit their ability to play imported DVDs." The report stated, "These restrictions are artificially imposed by a group of multinational film entertainment companies and are not caused by the existing differences in television display formats such as PAL, NTSC and SECAM [...] The ACCC is currently investigating whether Australian consumers are paying higher prices for DVDs because of

180-423: A configuration flag is set in each player's firmware at the factory. This flag holds the region number that the machine is allowed to play. Region-free players are DVD players shipped without the ability to enforce regional lockout (usually by means of a chip that ignores any region coding), or without this flag set. However, if the player is not region-free, it can often be unlocked with an unlock code entered via

225-462: A disc that is encoded for Region 1 but not Regions 2–8 will have the value 2+4+8+16+32+64+128=254. A disc encoded for Regions 1, 2 and 4 will have the value 4+16+32+64+128=244. A region-free or RCE-protected DVD will carry the value zero, since no regions are excluded. The Xbox , Xbox 360 , PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 consoles are all region-locked for DVD playback. The PlayStation 2 can be modified to have its regional-locking disabled through

270-454: A disc's region code or allowing the user to manually select a particular region. Some manufacturers of DVD players now freely supply information on how to disable regional lockout, and on some recent models, it appears to be disabled by default. Computer programs such as DVD Shrink can make copies of region-coded DVDs without RCE restriction. One purpose of region coding is controlling release dates. One practice of movie marketing which

315-463: A film for public exhibition in a cinema has always been expensive, but a large number of release prints are needed only for a narrow window of time during the first few weeks after a film's release. Spreading out release dates allows for reuse of some release prints in other regions. For example, the film 28 Days Later was available on DVD in the United Kingdom before it was released in theaters in

360-660: A region-free player to view NTSC discs (with the possible exception of Japanese discs in most European countries, since they are in the same region - this means European region 2 users could import Japanese discs and play them on their players without any obstacles.) There are also differences in pixel aspect ratio (720 × 480 vs. 720 × 576 with the same image aspect ratio ) and display frame rate (29.97 vs. 25). Most computer-based DVD software and hardware can play both NTSC and PAL video and both audio standards. Blu-ray players, which use up to 1080p signals, are backwards compatible with both NTSC and PAL DVDs. Usually,

405-557: A region-free player tries to play a disc using the last region that worked with the previously inserted disc. If it cannot play the disc, then it tries another region until one is found that works. RCE could be defeated by briefly playing a "normal" region 1 disc, and then inserting the RCE protected region 1 disc, which would now play. RCE also caused a few problems with genuine region 1 players. Many "multi-region" DVD players defeated regional lockout and RCE by automatically identifying and matching

450-419: A short video loop of a map of the world showing the regions, which was coded as region 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The intention was that when the disc was played in a non-region 1 player, the player would default to playing the material for its native region. This played the aforementioned video loop of a map, which was impossible to escape from, as the user controls were disabled. The scheme was fundamentally flawed, as

495-568: A single disc. For example, a DVD designated Region 2/4 is suitable for playback in Europe, Latin America, Oceania, and any other Region 2 or Region 4 area. So-called "Region 0" and "ALL" discs are meant to be playable worldwide. The term "Region 0" also describes the DVD players designed or modified to incorporate Regions 1–8, thereby providing compatibility with most discs, regardless of region. This apparent solution

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540-586: A song by White Reaper, from the album You Deserve Love See also [ edit ] All pages with titles beginning with Hard Luck Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Hard Luck . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hard_Luck&oldid=1248447151 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

585-770: A switch to region 2. European region 2 DVDs may be sub-coded "D1" to "D4". "D1" are the UK only releases; "D2" and "D3" are not sold in the UK and Ireland; "D4" are distributed throughout Europe. Overseas territories of the United Kingdom and France (both in region 2) often have other regions (4 or 5, depending on geographical situation) than their homelands. Most DVDs sold in Mexico and the rest of Latin America carry both region 1 and 4 codes. Some are region 1 only after 2006 to coincide with Blu-ray region A. Egypt, Eswatini, Lesotho, and South Africa are in DVD region 2, while all other African countries are in region 5, but all African countries are in

630-415: A victim of Hurricane Katrina 's wrath, and loses his newly found life. After Lucky returns to New York, Lucky is dealt another blow when the government withdraws funds for his yoga and samba dance classes which he uses to try to keep kids off the streets. This unfortunate event leads to Lucky enduring the bad influences of two old friends from his past life as a criminal, who lure Lucky to a strip club under

675-461: A wild adventure. As the film begins, a former criminal and drug dealer named Lucky (Wesley Snipes) is released from prison. He tries to lead a respectable life, despite his troubled past. However, Lucky once or twice reflects on the wisdom of his grandfather who supposedly told him "sometimes without bad luck, it would seem you don't have any luck at all." Shortly after his release from prison, Lucky tries to get back on his feet but inexplicably ends up

720-674: Is achieved by way of region-locked DVD players , which will play back only DVDs encoded to their region (plus those without any region code). The American DVD Copy Control Association also requires that DVD player manufacturers incorporate the Regional Playback Control (RPC) system. However, region-free DVD players, which ignore region coding, are also commercially available, and many DVD players can be modified to be region-free, allowing playback of all discs. DVDs may use one code, multiple codes (multi-region), or all codes (region free). Any combination of regions can be applied to

765-431: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Hard Luck (2006 film) Hard Luck features a collaboration between Wesley Snipes, Mario Van Peebles and Bill Cobbs. It reunited the trio for the first time since 1991's New Jack City . Wesley Snipes played Lucky, a down on his luck former criminal and drug dealer whose post prison trials and tribulations take him on

810-579: The remote control . This code simply allows the user to change the factory-set configuration flag to another region, or to the special region "0". Once unlocked this way, the DVD player allows the owner to watch DVDs from any region. Many websites exist on the Internet offering these codes, often known informally as hacks . Many websites provide instructions for different models of standalone DVD players, to hack, and their factory codes. Older DVD drives use RPC-1 (Regional Playback Control) firmware, which means

855-407: The United Kingdom on 26 February 2007, it was distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment . DVD region code#1 DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique introduced in 1997. It is designed to allow rights holders to control the international distribution of a DVD release , including its content, release date, and price, all according to the appropriate region. This

900-409: The United States. Videotapes were inherently regional since formats had to match those of the encoding system used by television stations in that particular region, such as NTSC and PAL , although from the early 1990s PAL machines increasingly offered NTSC playback . DVDs are less restricted in that sense. Region coding allows movie studios to better control the global release dates of DVDs. Also,

945-659: The ability of copyright owners, such as film companies, to prevent competition by restricting imports from countries where the same (authorised) video titles are sold more cheaply." In 2012, a report from The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that region-free DVD players were legal in Australia, as they were exempt from the Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) included in the US Free Trade Agreement. Under New Zealand copyright law, DVD region codes and

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990-553: The converted signal. NTSC discs may be output from a PAL DVD player in three different ways: However, most NTSC players cannot play PAL discs, and most NTSC TVs do not accept 576i video signals as used on PAL/SECAM DVDs. Those in NTSC countries, such as the United States, generally require both a region-free, multi-standard player and a multi-standard television to view PAL discs, or a converter box, whereas those in PAL countries generally require only

1035-682: The copyright in a title may be held by different entities in different territories. Region coding enables copyright holders to (attempt to) prevent a DVD from a region from which they do not derive royalties from being played on a DVD player inside their region. Region coding attempts to dissuade importing of DVDs from one region into another. DVDs are also formatted for use on two conflicting regional television systems: 480i /60 Hz and 576i /50 Hz, which in analog contexts are often referred to as 525/60 ( NTSC ) and 625/50 ( PAL / SECAM ) respectively. Strictly speaking, PAL and SECAM are analog color television signal formats which have no relevance in

1080-404: The corresponding format. NTSC is the analog TV format historically associated with the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Taiwan, and other countries. PAL is the analog color TV format historically associated with most of Europe, most of Africa, China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, North Korea, and other countries (Brazil adopted the variant PAL-M , which uses

1125-639: The country code allows much more precise control of the regional distribution of Blu-ray discs than the six (or eight) DVD regions. In Blu-ray discs, there are not any "special regions" like the regions 7 and 8 in DVDs. Ultra HD (4K) Blu-Ray discs are region-free as they're generally encoded as worldwide region. For the UMD, a disc type used for the PlayStation Portable , UMD movies have region codes similar to DVDs, although many PSP games are region-free. Region coding

1170-600: The digital domain (as evident in the conflation of PAL and SECAM, which are actually two distinct analog color systems). However, the DVD system was originally designed to encode the information necessary to reproduce signals in these formats, and the terms continue to be used (incorrectly) as a method of identifying refresh rates and vertical resolution. However, an "NTSC", "PAL" or "SECAM" DVD player that has one or more analog composite video output (baseband or modulated) will only produce NTSC, PAL or SECAM signals, respectively, from those outputs, and may only play DVDs identified with

1215-438: The drive allows DVDs from any region to play. Newer drives use RPC-2 firmware, which enforces the DVD region coding at the hardware level. These drives can often be reflashed or hacked with RPC-1 firmware, effectively making the drive region-free. This may void the drive's warranty. Some drives may come set as region-free, so the user is expected to assign their region when they buy it. In this case, some DVD programs may prompt

1260-646: The drive is locked. Most commercial players are locked to a region code, but can be easily changed with software. Other software, known as DVD region killers, transparently remove (or hide) the DVD region code from the software player. Some can also work around locked RPC-2 firmware. The region coding of a DVD can be circumvented by making a copy that adds flags for all region codes, creating an all-region DVD. DVD backup software can do this, and some can also remove Macrovision , CSS , and disabled user operations (UOps). In common region-locked DVDs (but not in RCE-DVDs),

1305-451: The false pretense of his friend's birthday. When a drug deal with some dangerous mobsters goes bad, and Lucky is now on the run with a feisty Puerto Rican stripper from the strip club, Angela (Jacquelyn Quinones), and over $ 500,000 in American currency, which is wired with marking dye. Later that night, there are short cuts of an unconventional and troubled couple, unexplained and also known to

1350-409: The firmware count can be done with first- or third-party software tools, or by reflashing (see above) to RPC-1 firmware. Since some software does not work correctly with RPC-1 drives, there is also the option of reflashing the drive with a so-called auto-reset firmware. This firmware appears as RPC-2 firmware to software, but will reset the region changes counter whenever power is cycled, reverting to

1395-683: The mechanisms in DVD players to enforce them have no legal protection. The practice was also criticized by the European Commission which as of 14 March 2001 were investigating whether the resulting price discrimination amounts to a violation of European competition law. The Washington Post highlighted how DVD region-coding was a major inconvenience for travelers who have the desire to legally purchase DVDs worldwide and return with them to their countries of origin, students of foreign languages, immigrants who want to watch films from their country of origin, and foreign film fans. Another criticism

Hard Luck - Misplaced Pages Continue

1440-485: The path of violence, and Lucky ends up an unlikely hero by saving the life of a would be victim of the Sawtooth Killers. Lucky saves Captain Davis (Mario Van Peebles) from Cass's son Eugene, who is armed with a shovel. Lucky chooses to have a positive outlook on the events by using perspective gained from his grandfather, characterizes the events as being "the luckiest day in an unlucky man's life." Lucky and Angela go on to receive

1485-519: The player software, not by the computer system or the drive, not like DVD regions. The region code is stored in a file or the registry, and there are hacks to reset the region counter of the player software. In standalone players, the region code is part of and enforced by the firmware. For bypassing region codes, there are software and multi-regional standalone players available. On the other hand, some standalone players can be modified to be region-free. A new form of Blu-ray region coding tests not only

1530-529: The police as the " Sawtooth Killers ". Chang (James Liao), an egotistical and maniacal accomplice to his old-fashioned girlfriend Cass (Cybill Shepherd), the mother of a mentally challenged man named Eugene (Mike Messier). Motivated by Cass's son Eugene's unpleasant experiences with society's rejection of mentally challenged individuals, the couple brutally kidnaps, tortures, and presumably kills their abductees, recording their exploits on video, possibly for future viewing. Angela and Lucky find themselves caught up in

1575-646: The refresh rate and resolution commonly associated with NTSC). SECAM, a format associated with French-speaking Europe, while using the same resolution and refresh rate as PAL, is a distinct format which uses a very different system of color encoding. Some DVD players can only play discs identified as NTSC, PAL or SECAM, while others can play multiple standards. In general, it is easier for consumers in PAL/SECAM countries to view NTSC DVDs than vice versa. Almost all DVD players sold in PAL/SECAM countries are capable of playing both kinds of discs, and most modern PAL TVs can handle

1620-408: The region 2, region 4, and region 5 codes, or are region 0. Region-code enhanced, also known as just "RCE" or "REA", was a retroactive attempt to prevent the playing of one region's discs in another region, even if the disc was played in a region-free player. The scheme was deployed on only a handful of discs. The disc contained the main program material region coded as region 1. But it also contained

1665-420: The region code is stored in the file "VIDEO_TS.IFO" (table "VMGM_MAT"), byte offsets 34 and 35. The eight regions each correspond to a value which is a power of 2: Region 1 corresponds to 1 (2 ), Region 2 to 2 (2 ), Region 3 to 4 (2 ), and so on through Region 8, which corresponds to 128 (2 ). The values of each region that the disc is not encoded for are added together to give the value in the file. For example,

1710-647: The region of the player/player software, but also its country code. This means, for example, while both the US and Japan are Region A, some American discs are not going to be played on devices/software installed in Japan or vice versa, due to the two countries having different country codes (the United States has 21843 or Hex 5553 ("US" in ASCII , according to ISO 3166-1 ), and Japan has 19024, or Hex 4a50 ("JP"); Canada has 17217 or Hex 4341 ("CA"). Although there are only three Blu-ray regions,

1755-487: The same Blu-ray region code (region B). North Korea and South Korea have different DVD region codes (North Korea: region 5, South Korea: region 3), but use the same Blu-ray region code (region A). In China, two DVD region codes are used: Mainland China uses region 6, but Hong Kong and Macau use region 3. There are also two Blu-ray regions used: China uses region C, while Hong Kong and Macau use region A. Most DVDs in India combine

1800-418: The state of a drive that has never had its region code changed. Most freeware and open source DVD players ignore region coding. VLC , for example, does not attempt to enforce region coding; however, it requires access to the DVD's raw data to overcome CSS encryption, and such access may not be available on some drives with RPC-2 firmware when playing a disc from a different region than the region to which

1845-610: The use of modchips . Although region locked on film DVDs and film Blu-ray Discs, the PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , and Xbox Series X are region free for video games, though add-on content on the online store is region locked and must match the region of the disc. Blu-ray discs use a much simpler region-code system than DVD with only three regions, labeled A, B and C. As with DVDs, many Blu-rays are encoded region 0 (region free), making them suitable for players worldwide. Blu-ray regions are verified only by

Hard Luck - Misplaced Pages Continue

1890-447: The user to select a region, while others may actually assign the region automatically based on the locale set in the operating system. In most computer drives, users are allowed to change the region code up to five times. If the number of allowances reaches zero, the region last used will be permanent even if the drive is transferred to another computer. This limit is built into the drive's controller software, called firmware. Resetting

1935-567: Was criticized for facilitating unlawful market control strategies, such as price fixing . Sale of region-coded DVDs are illegal in New Zealand . The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have warned that DVD players that enforce region-coding may violate the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 . A December 2000 report from the ACCC advised consumers to "exercise caution when purchasing

1980-519: Was popular in the early days of the DVD format, but studios quickly responded by adjusting discs to refuse to play in such machines by implementing a system known as "Regional Coding Enhancement" (RCE). DVDs sold in the Baltic states use both region 2 and 5 codes, having previously been in region 5 (because of their history as part of the USSR), but EU single market law concerning the free movement of goods caused

2025-399: Was threatened by the advent of digital home video was the tradition of releasing a movie to cinemas and then for general rental or sale later in some countries than in others. This practice was historically common because before the advent of digital cinema , releasing a movie at the same time worldwide used to be prohibitively expensive. Most importantly, manufacturing a release print of

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