Alien Quadrilogy: Missing commentary?

element05

Howdy,

OK, maybe I'm being a complete muppet, but I seem to be missing some of the extra content on the Alien Quadrilogy version of "Aliens"...

When I pop the main disc in (disc three of the set), I see the Ireland/UK and Australia warnings, then the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment logo, then the main menu with Chapter Selection, Language Selection, Special Features and Play Movie.

From the notes on the included booklet, as well as all the reviews I've read online of the Quadrilogy box set, the Aliens disc should include both the theatrical release of the movie, as well as the 1991 special edition. There should be an introduction from James Cameron, and an audio commentary track.

However, hitting "Play Movie" just shows me the THX logo, and then takes me straight into the special edition version of the film. No intro from Cameron, no choice between the two versions. There's only one audio track, the regular film audio.

Language Selection from the main menu only has one entry (English 5.1) and a choice of alternate language subtitles. Special Features just has an interview with Cameron, some short behind-the-scenes video segments of some of the production work, a theatrical trailer and some photo galleries.

So where is my choice of the film version and the audio commentary track? I've checked in both DVD Player on OS X Snow Leopard and in VLC, all I see is the above... anyone else with the Quadrilogy box set out there have the same problem? Or can you confirm if I'm not seeing the right menus or something?

Cheers!

John

Voodu Child

Just navigate to the VIDEO_TS folder on the disc and check one of the movie vobs with mediainfo (the movie vobs are the big ones, 1GB in size except for the last). Itll show you all the audio and subpicture tracks.

element05

Looks like VTS_02_x.vob is the main movie (multiple 1.07GB files). Here's the MediaInfo Mac report:

* * * MediaInfo Mac 0.7.36.0 file analysis report.
* * * MediaInfo Mac is ©2010 by Diego Massanti - http://mediainfo.massanti.com
* * * MediaInfoLib by Jerome Martinez - http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net
Created on: 27 Jan 2011 23:03:16 GMT
Report for file: VTS_02_0.VOB

General / Container Stream #1
	Total Video Streams for this File.................1
	Total Audio Streams for this File.................1
	Total Subtitle Streams for this File..............2
	Video Codecs Used.................................MPEG-2 Video
	Audio Codecs Used.................................AC3
	SubTitle Codecs Used..............................RLE / RLE
	Available Sutbitle Languages...................... / 
	File Format.......................................MPEG-PS
	Total File Size...................................192 MiB
	Total Stream BitRate..............................0
Video Stream #1
	Codec (Human Name)................................MPEG Video
	Codec Profile.....................................Main@Main
	Frame Width.......................................720 pixels
	Frame Height......................................576 pixels
	Frame Rate........................................25.000 fps
	Total Frames......................................461168601841
	Display Aspect Ratio..............................16:9
	Video Standard....................................PAL
	Scan Type.........................................Progressive
	Scan Order........................................TFF
	Color Space.......................................YUV
	Codec Settings (Matrix)...........................Default
	Video Stream BitRate Mode.........................VBR
	Bit Depth.........................................8 bits
Audio Stream #1
	Codec.............................................AC-3
	Audio Stream Length...............................5s 403ms
	Audio Stream BitRate..............................192 Kbps
	Audio Stream BitRate Mode.........................CBR
	Number of Audio Channels..........................2
	Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L R
	Sampling Rate.....................................48.0 KHz
	Bit Depth.........................................16 bits
	Audio Stream Delay................................88ms
	Audio Stream Size.................................127 KiB (0%)
Subtitle Stream #1
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #2
	Format............................................RLE
Menu / Chapters Stream #1

All of which would seem to suggest that there's only the one audio stream, hence no commentary... but all of the reviews say the Quadrilogy version of Aliens has a cracking commentary track... anyone else out there with that edition that can confirm/deny they have the commentary track?

Cheers,

John

Voodu Child

-Edit-
Now that I check my own disc I can see that it doesnt show up right in mediainfo. So forget about that as a way of telling.

element05

Hmm... well, the only vobs that are over the 1gb mark are in the VTS_02_x.vob series... here are the file sizes:

VTS_02_0.VOB:   201,365,504 bytes
VTS_02_1.VOB: 1,073,739,776 bytes
VTS_02_2.VOB: 1,073,739,776 bytes
VTS_02_3.VOB:   392,986,624 bytes
VTS_02_4.VOB: 1,073,739,776 bytes
VTS_02_5.VOB: 1,073,739,776 bytes
VTS_02_6.VOB: 1,073,739,776 bytes
VTS_02_7.VOB:   661,776,384 bytes

As you can see, three of them are smaller than the max size. Here's the MediaInfo Mac report for VTS_02_4.VOB:

* * * MediaInfo Mac 0.7.36.0 file analysis report.
* * * MediaInfo Mac is ©2010 by Diego Massanti - http://mediainfo.massanti.com
* * * MediaInfoLib by Jerome Martinez - http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net
Created on: 27 Jan 2011 23:19:54 GMT
Report for file: VTS_02_4.VOB

General / Container Stream #1
	Total Video Streams for this File.................1
	Total Audio Streams for this File.................1
	Total Subtitle Streams for this File..............11
	Audio Codecs Used.................................AC3
	SubTitle Codecs Used..............................RLE / RLE / RLE / RLE / RLE / RLE / RLE / RLE / RLE / RLE / RLE
	Available Sutbitle Languages...................... /  /  /  /  /  /  /  /  /  / 
	File Format.......................................MPEG-PS
	Play Time.........................................24mn 44s
	Total File Size...................................1 024 MiB
	Total Stream BitRate..............................5 787 Kbps
Video Stream #1
	Video Stream Length...............................24mn 44s 40ms
	Video Stream BitRate..............................5 288 Kbps
	Video Stream Size.................................935 MiB (91%)
Audio Stream #1
	Codec.............................................AC-3
	Audio Stream Length...............................24mn 44s 416ms
	Audio Stream BitRate..............................384 Kbps
	Audio Stream BitRate Mode.........................CBR
	Number of Audio Channels..........................6
	Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
	Sampling Rate.....................................48.0 KHz
	Bit Depth.........................................16 bits
	Audio Stream Delay................................63ms
	Audio Stream Size.................................68.0 MiB (7%)
Subtitle Stream #1
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #2
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #3
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #4
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #5
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #6
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #7
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #8
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #9
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #10
	Format............................................RLE
Subtitle Stream #11
	Format............................................RLE
Menu / Chapters Stream #1

element05

Voodu Child wrote: »

-Edit-
Now that I check my own disc I can see that it doesnt show up right in mediainfo. So forget about that as a way of telling.

Ahh ok - doh! Do you have the Quadrilogy then? If so can you access the commentary and/or different movie versions on the Aliens disc?

Cheers,

John

Voodu Child

Yeah, 6-channel AC3 at 384kbps is your main audio track. Looks like there is no other audio track on it. I'll have a look at my disc and see what commentary tracks there are.

Edit - There's two versions on my disc (via branching), one that is 2:28:05 and a shorter one. Only the 2:28:05 one has the directors commentary.

Be aware that there have been loads of different versions, slim-line versions etc, so im sure some of them differed. Funny though that it would say it on the leaflet if it didn't have it.

element05

Thanks a million for your help

Interesting... the "Alien" disc in my set offers that as advertised. Do you see the same sequence of logos/menus that I described in my first post?

This is what my particular copy looks like:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/film/2003/dec03/alien_quadrilogy.html

Box is cardboard with a metallic sheen and an embossed surface. 9 discs inside, held in slim transparent green trays. The little booklet included says (about two pages from the back):

DISC THREE - ALIENS
* Full-Length Commentary by Director
  James Cameron, Producer Gale
  Anne Hurd, Alien Effects Creator
  Stan Winston, Visual Effects
  Supervisors Robert Skotak and
  Dennis Skotak, Miniature Effects
  Supervisor Pat McClung, Actors
  Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance
  Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie
  Henn, and Christoper Henn
  (for the extended version only).
* Theatrical Version (131 minutes)
* 1991 Special Edition (148 minutes)
* James Cameron Introduction

The only thing out of all that I can actually see anywhere is the theatrical version, and I can only identify that because of some of the scenes in the movie (Al and Lydecker talking in the corridor, etc).

William Powell

Found it

You jump to a menu then have to go back for somereason?

Once on the menu with the two releases on it there is no back button?

Edit> VLC Play goes straight to a Menu with PLAY, THX, SCENES, LANGUAGES and on the right hand side <BACK_511>B

<BACK_511>B gets you to the page you want.

Voodu Child

element05 wrote: »

Thanks a million for your help

Interesting... the "Alien" disc in my set offers that as advertised. Do you see the same sequence of logos/menus that I described in my first post?

I don't really use the menus (normally I just rip the main feature off the disc and put the DVD away in storage :pac:) but if I play the disc with VLC I can switch between the Theatrical and Special Editions using
Playback > Navigation > Title 1 / Title 2

element05

Thanks guys... definitly starting to think the Aliens disc that I have is not the same as ye'r copies.

This is what my Aliens menu looks like (link to a JPEG):

http://cl.ly/0p2J0G3G4135152E333U

Selecting "Play Movie" plays the menu closing animation (you hear Hudson say "I've got movement!", and the camera spins around and cuts out), then I get the THX logo (no choice of movie edition) and then straight into the special edition.

The physical disc itself has the same visual appearance as the rest of the discs in the set (dark bluish-green, with a circular ribbed pipe/alien exoskeleton kind of image, and a small image of Newt towards the lower-right corner), identifying text on the silver side of the disc says "F1 01802 CE L1 ALIENS (COLLECT ED) DISC 1 F1CE-ST".

EDIT: Found a crummy image of what the discs generally look like:
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Iv07Qtfr8yQ/0.jpg

It's a mystery!

Voodu Child

element05 wrote: »

Thanks guys... definitly starting to think the Aliens disc that I have is not the same as ye'r copies.

This is what my Aliens menu looks like (link to a JPEG):

The menus on mine look completely different.

Check what I said about VLC (Playback > Navigation > Title ) and if you don't find two different titles there then i'd say you're out of luck.

irish_stevo815

Excuse me if i'm wrong, but isnt it only the Blu-Ray Quadrilogy that has all these extra features that you are looking for? The DVD Quadrilogy was released before the Blu-Ray Special Quadrilogy.

William Powell

element05's screen shot is nothing like the menu page on my my disks - any of the 9 as far as I remember.

So heres the first screen I get when I stick the disk in....



And this is the screen I get when I click to the right left of <BACK_511>B



disk is labeled ALIENS_DISK_1 its part of a 9 disk set F1-0GB 25231DVD Alien Quadrilogy The Ultimate Edition.

Sad Professor

element05 wrote: »

This is what my Aliens menu looks like (link to a JPEG):

http://cl.ly/0p2J0G3G4135152E333U

That's the old DVD.

Where did you buy the set from?

element05

Got a chance to go through the titles just now with VLC - only the one movie title.

This copy of the Quadrilogy came from Amazon.co.uk, got it for Christmas a few years ago.

I can only conclude that despite what the booklet says, that I have the "Collectors Edition" DVD of Aliens, not the Quadrilogy version of it, despite the fact that the actual physical appearance of the disk matches up with all the rest of them - feeling kind of swindled now! Bad Amazon...

Ahh well, I'm sure I'll probably end up buying the box set again when I eventually get a Blu-ray player.


Thanks again for the help guys


John

Voodu Child

What length is the version of Aliens that you have?

If it is 2hr 28, PM me.