Same video parts in multiple .m2ts files on Bluray

[PowerGamer]

Eac3to gives the following report for the Ice Age 2 Blu-ray disk I have:

1) 00001.mpls (angle 1), 00078.m2ts+00082.m2ts+00083.m2ts, 1:30:36
- Chapters, 24 chapters
- h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
- DTS Master Audio, English, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Spanish, multi-channel, 48khz
- DTS, Russian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Estonian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Latvian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Lithuanian, multi-channel, 48khz
- DTS, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Korean, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Thai, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Turkish, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48khz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48khz

2) 00001.mpls (angle 2), 00079.m2ts+00082.m2ts+00084.m2ts, 1:30:36
- Chapters, 24 chapters
- h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
- DTS Master Audio, English, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Spanish, multi-channel, 48khz
- DTS, Russian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Estonian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Latvian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Lithuanian, multi-channel, 48khz
- DTS, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Korean, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Thai, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Turkish, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48khz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48khz

3) 00001.mpls (angle 3), 00080.m2ts+00082.m2ts+00085.m2ts, 1:30:36
- Chapters, 24 chapters
- h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
- DTS Master Audio, English, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Spanish, multi-channel, 48khz
- DTS, Russian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Estonian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Latvian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Lithuanian, multi-channel, 48khz
- DTS, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Korean, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Thai, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Turkish, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48khz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48khz

4) 00001.mpls (angle 4), 00081.m2ts+00082.m2ts+00086.m2ts, 1:30:36
- Chapters, 24 chapters
- h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
- DTS Master Audio, English, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Spanish, multi-channel, 48khz
- DTS, Russian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Estonian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Latvian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Lithuanian, multi-channel, 48khz
- DTS, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Korean, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Thai, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Turkish, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48khz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48khz

5) 00901.mpls, 00082.m2ts, 1:19:43
- h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
- DTS Master Audio, English, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Spanish, multi-channel, 48khz
- DTS, Russian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Estonian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Latvian, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Lithuanian, multi-channel, 48khz
- DTS, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Korean, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Chinese, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Thai, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, Turkish, multi-channel, 48khz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48khz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48khz

Main movie is reported to be multiangle (4 different angles). When played in MPC-HC all 4 files 00078.m2ts,00079.m2ts,00080.m2ts,00081.m2ts contain the same video and audio tracks but all 4 files differ with each other when byte compared. Files 00083.m2ts,00084.m2ts,00085.m2ts,00086.m2ts contain the same video and audio tracks but are not byte-identical too.

When Blu-ray is played in TotalMedia Theatre 3 option to change angle is not present.

It seems that those duplicate files have nothing to do with multiple angles. Then what is the real purpose of those duplicate m2ts files? And what set of files should be used to demux main movie?

[rik1138]

Are those duplicate files the beginning (and end) of the movie itself? Usually when you see this, the 78, 79, 80, etc files would be slightly different opening logos or title treatment. Like, if you select Spanish and play the film, when you see 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' on the screen, it will actually say that in Spanish instead. (Make sure it's not something like that, did you watch each m2ts all the way through?)

It's possible that the studio has a template in place for making these kinds of discs, but sometimes they don't bother translating the title treatments, so they just drop them in 4 times instead of modifying the template...

Ice Age 2 is listed as being 90 minutes, so you definitely want PlayList 00001 (not sure what the 901 one is for). If you are sure those 'duplicate' m2ts files are exactly the same video/audio all the way through, I'd just go with Angle 1...

[PowerGamer]

Are those duplicate files the beginning (and end) of the movie itself?
Yes.

Usually when you see this, the 78, 79, 80, etc files would be slightly different opening logos or title treatment. Like, if you select Spanish and play the film, when you see 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' on the screen, it will actually say that in Spanish instead. (Make sure it's not something like that, did you watch each m2ts all the way through?)
Now that you mentioned this I replayed all 4 starting parts of the movie (00078.m2ts,00079.m2ts,00080.m2ts,00081.m2ts) again and found out that 00079.m2ts indeed displays "Ice Age 2" in some other language than English. But three other m2ts files display "Ice Age 2" in English.

It's possible that the studio has a template in place for making these kinds of discs, but sometimes they don't bother translating the title treatments, so they just drop them in 4 times instead of modifying the template...

Looks like that was the case with two other m2ts files, that display movie title in English while they should have displayed it in some other language.

Many thanks for the explanation. :)