OK, today in the mail I got the Alien Quadrilogy. I watched the theatrical versions of both movies tonight.

Now, since there are two versions of each movie on one disc, I thought each would be on its own layer. Is that so, or, for instance, are there layer changes within each version?

Reason I ask is, while watching Alien, I saw the video break up for a second or two around 1:09:45-50. The picture got pixelated, but didn't freeze. I'm not sure if it's from a layer change being handled badly, or if it's a defect.

I think I also noticed a layer change in Aliens, when the picture froze for a brief moment on Ripley's face, but there was no picture breakup. It seemed like a normal layer change.

Any help appreciated.

Its called seamless branching. Its been around since the early days of DVD. There is no way they could fit the 150 minute version of ALIENS on a single layer of a DVD.

My copy of Alien froze and then skipped ahead a few minutes during the scene where Dallas is on the computer talking to Mother.

The pixelation I noticed during Alien was at the end of the scene where the crew is discussing their plan to use fire to herd it out an airlock, just as the scene switches to an outside view of the ship.

Seamless branching? Makes sense now that I think about it. So, no layer change?

So is the video breakup I'm getting more likely to be at a branching moment, or could this be a defect that would merit an exchange? Not one disc in this set is scratched, which was a pleasant surprise. Not sure if I'd be so lucky on a second.

Yes, all 4 movies will have a layer change somewhere regardless of which version you watch. Whether or not it's noticeable is a different story.

Does anyone know where the layer change is on theatrical Alien?