ALIEN SE- two titles, which is which?

[archaeo]

I am going to back up Alien SE, and want to do movie only. I see that it contains two titles - 1 and 2... I can't seem to tell which is theatrical version, and which is the longer directors cut. How can you tell which is which? The size appears to read the same in dvdshrink reauthor.

[yoda313]

Hello,

You can watch it in the preview window in the lower left of dvdshrink. Just move the slider to a part of the movie that was changed and you should be able to tell which version it is. Chances are it's the first title (that would make the most sense).

Kevin

[ha13may]

Hi!

I have backed up ALIEN 3 AND ALIEN RESURRECTION, both of which are region 2. Both were part of the 9 Disc boxset released here. Both contained 2 titles. One was slightly larger than the other according to DVDshrink reauthor mode. One is the extended/special edition the other is the theatrical version which is a bit smaller.

I have also backed up certain dvds which 'claim' to have two identical titles. A recent dvd claimed to have two 5.5gig titles plus the special features. In DVDshrink these dvds would be something like:

TITLE1 5560MB
TITLE2 5560MB
TITLE3 XXX
ETC...

They are most likely authored in a strange way. Select anyone of the titles, you should be okay. I have done so.

[Gurm]

What you'll discover with "identical" titles is that one of them is indexed to/from the extras. For example, sometimes a director's cut isn't done by editing the entire movie, but just by splicing in new chapters/scenes. Or, for example, something similar to "follow the white rabbit" in the Matrix can be done this way.

ALMOST ALWAYS, the first title is the "plain" one. Almost always.

[wulf109]

Open the movie ifo fiile in IFOEDIT,each "version" will be listed as a separate PGC,showing the running time. The longer one is probably the special version.

[archaeo]

thanks for the feedback - it does appear that title 2 is slightly longer, but not by much. And this supports gurm's logic that title 1 is usually the original version. I initially tried to go through the preview function in shrink, but it took too long to try to detect an 'additional' scene. I think I'll go with title 2...

[cinemareplicas.com]

The long title is actually the original version this time. The shorter version is the new directors cut.

[Gurm]

My logic is only for when you have two titles with IDENTICAL running times and sizes - and clearly the second one is "fake" because you can't fit two 4.5GB movies AND menus and extras onto one disc.

[pg55555]

In my opinion the different titles are "angles", so you actually are not fitting two movies. Each title shares most of the film, but they differ in some parts. That parts are the only difference. Shrink will look at the two titles as different, but they are sharing most of the material
You can check it in the Full backup mode, where the size of the main movie is the same as just one of the titles in the re-author mode.

My analogy would be as going from Times Square to Wall Street by Broadway Av (that is the original). But in other trip the driver decides to give a look at the Village, so it tooks a small detour and back to Broadway Av (that is the Director's cut). So, most of the route is the same

[jeanl]

How about playing the DVD in a software player, selecting which version you want (I'm assuming there's a menu for that) and watching the Title number in the player? This should tell you which is which, right?
Jeanl

[archaeo]

and watching the Title number in the player

hmmm, I could try this. But I'm also hearing that it may take both titles (in this case the whole disc) to be able to view the special version.


-a

[jeanl]

and watching the Title number in the player

hmmm, I could try this. But I'm also hearing that it may take both titles (in this case the whole disc) to be able to view the special version.
-a

I'm not following you... I'm suggesting that you play the original DVD in PowerDVD for example, and select the right version to see which title that corresponds to... You can certainly do that with the original, right?
Jeanl

[MackemX]

if it was angles then it would show in DVDShrink's reauthor mode. Chances are it's got linked PGC's (Titles)

for example you could have a DVD with 31 cells but each PGC only uses 30. That means 1 cell will be different between the two PGC's

this is why the titles will look identical due to them using 29 of the cells in both PGC's

if you are doing movie only then you will only be taking the one title even if they are linked and not both (unless you want a 10Gb+ DVD). As jeanl mentions, play the DVD in a player (you could even use the original in your standalone) that shows which title number that is playing. Load the DVD in DVDShrink and using reauthor grab that title

simple

[shelbyGT]

Well, if it's between director's cut and theatrical version, I have never yet seen a director cut his movie shorter than the theatre version. So, I just go by total size and whichever is the larger file, that's the director's cut.

[archaeo]

play the DVD in a player (you could even use the original in your standalone) that shows which title number that is playing. Load the DVD in DVDShrink and using reauthor grab that title

I use roxio dvd player on my computer and I will try this. Somewhere in there it must tell me which title is playing.

-a

[jeanl]

play the DVD in a player (you could even use the original in your standalone) that shows which title number that is playing. Load the DVD in DVDShrink and using reauthor grab that title

I use roxio dvd player on my computer and I will try this. Somewhere in there it must tell me which title is playing.

-a

I sure hope so!
Jeanl

[TBoneit]

Or do both titles, Cheap as disks are, why not?

[archaeo]

cinemareplica wrote:

The long title is actually the original version this time. The shorter version is the new directors cut.

After running thru roxio player and checking titles, this ends up being true-

Title 1 (directors cut) : 6228MB

title 2 (theatrical): 6257MB

so, you can't just trust size or title sequence as an indicator...

thanks for the feedback, all

[MackemX]

I would never go by size but at least you know how to do it now and that it only takes a few seconds to find out

[TBoneit]

IMHO, Size is not as important as running time. I Prefer to see the running time of a title.

I too can't see why a directors cut would be shorter, I suspect that the directors have to fight to keep things in due to either, running time (Duplication costs), or to meet a preferred film rating, (R Vs NC-17) for example. On a DVD I would expect the Directors cut to be longer since it doesn't have to hacked to death to meet those constraints.

My Opinion