I do not think it is necessary to send the Workprint (you call it Pre-version) to anybody. Check page 6 of this forum, download my sample images, resize them to full screen and you can make the comparison yourself. They are in their real resolution.
Meanwhile, I tried to contact the eBay seller who sold the 2VCD to me back in 2002 (to ask for a DVD copy). No chance. No longer a registered member.
to Jonno:
I do not know anything about converting of UMD to DVD. But did you ever checked the normal 4:3 tapes and TV versions? They often offer small portions of picture above and below, not seen in the WS editions. This happens when the 4:3 release is "independent" on any WS version coming out at the same time. I must admit I never tried to study any Alien movie from this point of view, but I found this anomaly in T2 for example.
I just refused to buy a 20 years old original Japanese Giger's Alien VHS (for a price of the laserdisc...!), but I got some information at least. There were three tapes for GA, Necronomicon and Passagen in 1985 released together with the (only) LD editions of these three docs. Some two years later they reprinted GA and Necronomicon on one tape. No more official releases nowhere in the world, except for that 2-tape half-official set from Switzerland (8t88). All tapes by "Sony Video Software", catalogue numbers unknown. The info comes from the man who offers the LDs on eBay. I asked him for a DVD copy of GA, but he wants to sell the originals instead (understandable). All tapes contain subtitles too, so the only non-subtitled edition is the Swiss one.
