Which of 2 Main movie files when reauthoring with Shrink?

[donfm]

This is probably classified as a newbie question but I don't know the answer. When I go to reauthor some movies with DVDShrink saving only the main movie.....there appears to be 2 identical Main Movie files. When I prevue each they seem to be the identical same movie differing only slightly in file size. How do I know which file to use for my backup??. Somehow I just know this is gonna be a dumb question.....

[jdizzy40]

No dumb question. Choose either one and burn it. View the result. If you like what you see, then be happy with your choice. Are you sure one is not wide screen and the other full screen?

[reboot]

This may sound odd, but I have seen one PAL and one NTSC on the same disk.

[redwudz]

I just go for the first one listed. Haven't been wrong yet. 8) Usually the first is the widescreen, the second may be 4.3 format or Directors comments.

[RMaddog]

I have a ILO settop DVD recorder that does the same thing. I thought it was a backup just in case it can't read one it will read the other one. May be I am way off base with that but just my 2 cents.

[mijman]

I usually have to look at the video to make sure which one is widescreen (I hate full frame movies). Sometimes they are swiched around (to pander to the MTV crowd)

[guns1inger]

Sometimes different angles can show up this way (Star Wars Episode V has 5 main movies, each over 6 GB on one dual-layer disk). I usually take the first, unless there is a branching director cut as the second angle.

[Sabro]

From my expirences its usually Full Screen / Widescreen versions both stored on the disc.

[BSpielbauer]

This is probably classified as a newbie question but I don't know the answer. When I go to reauthor some movies with DVDShrink saving only the main movie.....there appears to be 2 identical Main Movie files. When I prevue each they seem to be the identical same movie differing only slightly in file size. How do I know which file to use for my backup??. Somehow I just know this is gonna be a dumb question.....

As you may have guessed from the variety of responses above, there is no one answer... when confronted with two or more "main titles" or "main movies," this can be due to several different reasons.

One of the most common is the "widescreen" and "full screen." This is actually the easiest one to deal with. Just play a bit of both, and you will quickly find the one you want. I had one where it was an "open matte" versus a slightly cropped letterboxed version. The difference was subtle, but I finally discovered this was what it was.

But, this can be due to seamless branching. One might be a director's cut, or a slightly different version. My DVD of "The Big Sleep" has a theatrical 1946 release, and also a "pre-release" which is described as a more "linear version of the plot." I was initially confused, until I happened to read the liner notes on the DVD.

In seamless branching, especially, there are cases where the total file size will give you a clue that it must be some form of seamless branching, since the sum total of the two would never even fit on one DVD, even if it were dual layer. I have come across several of these. (Title one is 5.9 G, and Title two is also 5.9 G.)

One might indeed be a director's commentary (although this is usually just an audio soundtrack, it is sometimes authored as a separate title). There are even a few DVDs where the commentary is a split screen visual commentary... you can watch the film on top, while actually watching the cast / crew on camera make their comments on the film. (What hubris, to believe we might wish to watch this sort of stuff.)

In those very few rare cases where I absolutely could not find any reason for the multiple titles, no matter how hard I looked, and no matter how long I watched, I simply went with the first one. In those cases, so far, I was 100% fine.

But, as mentioned above, there have been cases where the fullscreen version was Title One, and the widescreen version was Title Two. Check. Always.

-Bruce in Chi-Town

[RickTheRed]

I also add that sometimes there are 4 movies
title one
title one (angle)
title two
title two (angle)
each has 7gb
Same story here. Director's stuff.

Title one was the movie.