duplicate episodes on a disc..which to pick?

[ruins]

Hi guys, I have something that I'm curious about.

A good example to use is is The Simpsons Season 12 Disc 4 (episodes 18,19,20,21).

When I read the disc in MakeMKV, it comes up like this:

episode 18 (segment map: x-x)
episode 18 (segment map: x-x, x-x, x-x, x-x)
episode 19 (segment map: x-x)
episode 19 (segment map: x-x, x-x, x-x, x-x)
episode 20 (segment map: x-x)
episode 20 (segment map: x-x, x-x, x-x, x-x)
episode 21 (segment map: x-x)
episode 21 (segment map: x-x, x-x, x-x, x-x)

Each episode was exactly the same file size/length etc, the only difference was the segment map. Why is that, and does it matter which 'version' of the episode that I pick?

Thanks for any info on this.

[ndjamena]

Look at the audio, some blu rays have different versions for Japan and Europe. That's generally what causes most of the duplicate episodes I've seen. Of course there's a plethora of other reasons why. One might have commentary, different title sequences...

[ruins]

Audio etc is exactly the same, even on the duplicates. The only thing that is different is the segment map.

Good thinking on the title sequences (or something similar), with The Simpsons in particular that may very well be it! I will investigate further, thanks for the tips.

[ndjamena]

It could be anything. A censored version maybe. If you load the disc into a player you might find an option that explains it. Otherwise I wouldn't put it past them to include messed up alternate episodes on the disc as a form of copy protection. Figuring it out is half the fun!