This is the first of the two "Director's Cut" anime specials which were released in Japan, and this one premiered in August of 2007. It was originally advertised as being told from Ryuk's perspective (a claim which exists to this day), but the actual thing doesn't contain a lot of updates from the anime, except that the second opening theme is added during Higuchi's chase scene, and that it shows L's funeral. Plus, Mido, Shimura and Namikawa's deaths are a lot more gruesome this time around.
The second one premiered last August, and it, on the other hand (which, I'm assuming, will be coming out on R1 DVD later this year), has more in the way of updates. It shows more of Near at Wammy's, Light's meetings with Teru Mikami and Kiyomi Takada are moved to earlier on, and most notably, it cuts the mafia plot, so Light has Takada and Mikami kill the SPK instead.
