Film

My only disappointment is that Season 3 of Billy the Exterminator begins with the same opening credits as the previous two seasons.  By now I would have thought that Billy would have earned himself a new set of titles or something different. In all honesty Season 3 is not all that different from Seasons 1 and 2, but I’m okay with that.  More awesome exterminations is still awesome!

For those of you who aren’t yet fans, Billy the Exterminator centers around a former Air Force Sergeant Billy Bretherton, and his family run Louisiana pest management business Vexcon.  Billy works with his mother Donnie, father Bill Sr., and brother Ricky.  In previous seasons his wife Mary worked in the office but that arrangement did not work very well for the Bretherton family as a whole.  Mary stepped aside from the business last season, but still remains in the opening credits, which means a lot less drama this season.  With episode titles like “Hole of Horror,”“Coffin of Deadly Reptiles” and “Hogs Gone Wild” I honestly don’t know how anyone could resist.  I love the fact that Ricky is severely allergic to bee stings and still gets sent on so many bee calls.  This show would also make a good drinking game – take a shot every time Billy says “eugenol oil”.  You probably won’t make it through a single disc before you pass out!

When out on a job, I like the fact that Billy provides a lot of information about the creatures he is after.  He’s not just out there spraying raid at everything that moves.  He really knows what he’s doing and cares about the people that need his assistance. I’m always touched when Billy drops everything to remove the cockroaches from an old man’s trailer and oxygen tank.  Billy was obviously emotional about the case of the three young children who had roaches crawling on the picture of their recently deceased mom.  He refused to charge them and gladly offered the requested autographs.

In addition to the viewing pleasure of watching a red neck fight with his white trash family (red neck and white trash are terms used with nothing but love), Billy the Exterminator also provides all kinds of interesting facts.  This season I learned that 8,000 people a year are bitten by venomous snakes, rats can chew through metal, roaches are nocturnal, some roaches can go 45 minutes without air and only female wasps have stingers. This show is borderline educational.

Billy the Exterminator Season 3 contains the following seventeen episodes across three discs:

Disc One

1.  Coffin of Deadly Reptiles – Billy and Ricky are sent out to remove a gator from a duck blind at the Wing Nut Rod, Gun & BBQ Club.  In addition to the gator, they find multiple poisonous snakes and Billy has a very close call when a gator rips the crotch out of his pants.

2.  Donnie’s Snake Attack – A family friend has a snake problem and Billy is unavailable to take the job.  Dressed in their church clothes Donnie and Bill, Sr. take the job.  Donnie is very proud of herself for being involved as she has a terrible fear of snakes.

3.  Invasion of the Giant Rats – Billy is called out to a home and studio of a musician with a giant rat problem.  The rats threaten his property and many small dogs.  When the problem is solved, Billy is invited back to a hippie jam session in the music studio the rats have been evicted from.

4.  Fox Fight! – A fox is seen near a house threatening the safety of a toddler and a small dog.  Billy goes to work setting his trap, de-scenting it, adding fox urine and chicken bait and in no time he has caught the culprit.

5.  Snakes in a Pool – A family has just moved into a house with an almost empty pool filled with mirky water and a snake.   The pool guys drain as much water as they can and Billy sorts through what is left.  It’s particularly amusing to watch him catch the snake and then not be able to climb back out of the slippery pool.

6.  Bees from Hell – The fact that Ricky is allergic to bee stings makes it so much more amusing that he is assisting Billy with a yellow jacket problem in the bathroom of a house.  The homeowner had the bathroom fill with bees while getting ready to take a shower.  Billy is stationed in the house killing bees and causing others to escape through the side of the house where Ricky is on patrol.

Disc Two

7.  Donnie Gets Dirty – A woman Donnie met in the hospital has roach problems.  The infections from roach bites  are delaying surgery and Donnie assists Ricky with the cleanup.  Billy helps an injured hawk who has been struck by a car.

8.  Wolf Attack – Actor wolves seen in Twilight and True Blood have a raccoon problem.  The staff at Animal Actors Worldwide decided to let Billy “take a hit” from a wolf, promising he won’t be injured – just knocked down.  Billy also handles a rat and snake problem threatening livestock.

9.  Five Alarm Hive – The Shreveport Police and Fire Training Center is taken over by bees.  Billy and Ricky drill through the structure and use the fire truck’s ladder to tackle this 25 year problem.  Big Bill and another Vexcon employee rescue an armadillo from an empty pool

10.  Gator Bait – Billy and Ricky go to a Gator Farm where fire ants are killing newly hatched gators and a protective mama gator is very aggressive when they try to help her young. Billy heads to help his friends at the Cypress Zoo to assist with a roach problem.

11.  Raccoon Rampage – A petting zoo has a raccoon problem and Billy and Ricky are on the case.  Donnie complains about the messy conditions at the office and Billy heads to a roach job.  At the roach job, Billy finds that three young children have lost their mom to a drunk driving accident and roaches are crawling on her picture hanging in their room.

12.  Snake Bite! – Billy is called by the mayor to come to Stonewall City Hall and assist with a bee problem.  Before he can head out on that job, Big Bill takes a call about a poisonous snake that has bitten a dog.  Without alterting Donnie, Billy and Big Bill rush to the emergency call, and later Billy fixes the problem at City Hall.  In this episode Billy explains his look (dressed in black, skull and crossbones) to the mayor and it turns out to be more than just a fashion statement.

Disc Three

13.  Battle of the Bees – Ricky and Donnie tackle a bee job at a house and have to call in Big Bill with bee suits.

14.  Monster Mice – Billy has another wasp job, and uses a high tech camera to find the nests.  After being stung he stars squishing bees by hand.  Billy and Ricky head to the home of a single mom with mice.  Billy and Ricky argue over who made the baby cry and Billy intentionally snaps his finger in a mouse trap because it’s been a while.

15.  Hogs Gone Wild! – A pack of hogs is destroying property.  Big Bill and professional hog hunters help out in the most dangerous job Vexcon has ever handled.  Donnie lost a rabbit in her house and Billy and Ricky find it injured and come to the little guys rescue.

16.  Hole of Horror - Wasps are in a hole in the ground bear a family’s home.  Big Bill tried to take the job himself, but Billy arrived at the office in time.  Billy ends up needing the assistance of the production crew as the wasps are angry when Billy tries to drown them with a chemical solution.  Billy and Ricky use electrified tennis rackets on wasps at another job where the children have a rare disease and cannot be exposed to chemicals of any kind.

17.  Best of Billy (one-hour) –  Go behind the scenes on the craziest and most dangerous jobs Vexcon has taken.

Video 

There is nothing spectacular to report about the video quality on Billy the Exterminator Season 3.  The DVD  is full frame (1.33:1) and the quality is comparable to that of the TV show as aired on A&E.  I keep waiting for the Billy the Exterminator Blu-Ray set to see some high definition cockroaches.

Audio

As with the video quality, audio quality (Dolby Digital 2.0)  is identical to the previous two seasons.  With all the snakes rattling, gators hissing and wasps swarming some good surround sound could really do a lot for this show.

Special Features

I wish A&E would beef up the special features category a little bit. What there is I did like, but I want more.  If anyone is listening, I suggest a helmet cam for Billy in future seasons.

Billy the Exterminator Season 3 contains the following special features:

About Billy – Billy’s Clothing (black, leather, spikes) is explained – it’s functional and it looks good.  Billy and Ricky appear at the mudbug festival and compete in a crawfish eating contest.

Billy’s Crew -

• Venom Spray – a cameraman in sprayed in the eyes with venom when he gets too close because Billy has already captured the snake.
• Wolf Attack – the Executive Producer has promised that he won’t ask Billy to do anything he wouldn’t do himself.  Billy makes him sorry he said that when it’s time to do the wolf stunt.
• In the Line of Fire – Even with bee suits on, the crew gets stung.
• Big jobs small camera – special POV cameras allow the viewer to get up close to the various “critters” Vexcon plans to exterminate and/or relocate.

Behind-the-Scenes -

• Ricky and the Bee Suit – Bee suits are not as easy as you’d think to get into – watch Ricky fumble with one.
• Help a Snake! – Billy is on a roach job, when a next door neighbor finds a snake.  Billy rushes over and improvises to catch the snake when his tongs are broken.
• The Maze – A Vexcon maze is created and a phot presented to Billy in recognition of a previous skunk job.

Final Thoughts

My overall rating was brought down by the audio and video categories.  Based on the episodes and special features – it’ would be a solid 4 out of 5.   The best part about Billy the Exterminator is that every episode is a win-win situation.  If Billy gets the critter he’s after it’s a highly entertaining half hour.  If the critter in question happens to bite or superficially injure Billy or Ricky, well that’s good entertainment too.  Billy is quite a unique character.  His look is part rocker, part biker, and definitely not what you’d expect from your local exterminator.  His family is a little nuts and they all seem to work together to make Louisiana a little less dangerous.

Order your copy today!

Today, viewers have encountered an onslaught of 3D films with the likes of Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, and the upcoming August release of Piranha 3-D.  So far, some of these films have utilized the technology better than others.  For instance, Alice in Wonderland thrived in the immersive environments provided by 3D while Clash of the Titans’ use of the effect was an aftermarket (and afterthought) hodge-podge that fell quite short of leaving movie-goers with a positive impression.

Check your newspapers’ Sunday ads and you’ll find electronics retailers pushing the latest in three-dimensional hardware as certain Blu-ray players and televisions are hitting the market, capable of producing the same effect we have witnessed in theaters.  In all reality, 3D is a gimmick.  It always has been and always will be, despite the funds being sunk into its mass marketing as we speak.  Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recently spoke at a conference where he mentioned how his company’s competitors are spending gobs of money on developing 3D machines, but Nintendo is choosing to steer clear of this path.  Iwata stated, “I have doubts whether people will be wearing glasses to play games at home.  How is that going to look to other people?”

That brings us to another obstacle; the necessary peripherals.  A good portion of the populace wear eye glasses, myself included.  It’s not a big deal.  They’re fitted specifically for you and they’re comfortable.  Sometimes you forget you even have them on.  But when it comes to watching a 3D movie, whether it’s at home or in the theater, the glasses can take on a different feeling.  We know they are there.  They can be uncomfortable and just a general nuisance.  Then the factor comes into play of how many you should own.  If you only have a few of the optic enhancers, I guess you won’t be inviting the neighbors over to watch the 3D version of Avatar.

Add cost to the issue and you’ve got yourself the meat of the problem.  Blu-ray, in its standard non-3D form, has faced two obstacles in securing a market foothold.  One; it was introduced during a lackluster economy.  Leisure is the first expenditure to go when times are tough for people.  Two; the general public did not want to rebuild their large DVD libraries.  Many jumped at the chance to switch from VHS to DVD.  The resolution was the same but there are no moving parts on a disc, they take up less space, don’t wear out like a tape does and are generally easier to play.  They weren’t, and many still aren’t, aware of the bang and pop that Blu-ray offers audibly and visually.  Take those same people and now try to convince them to buy a $399 3D Blu-ray player and the $1,000+ TV that can utilize those visuals.  In the words of a wise man, “It ain’t gonna happen.”

We haven’t even touched upon the issue of nausea yet that some folks encounter from these films.  We are talking about headaches to a general sensation of motion sickness that has befallen a few in the audience of the casual film fan.  History has shown that the three-dimensional effect has anemic staying power at best.  It was a fad in the 50’s and has been tepid at best in terms of public acceptance.  Nintendo made their attempt in the mid-90’s with the Virtual Boy gaming system.  Billed as displaying true 3D graphics, the goggle-like unit disappeared from store shelves almost as quickly as it arrived, and it wasn’t due to high sales.  The multi-dimensional, scarlet graphics caused many a complaint of illness and annoyance back in the day and a follow-up effort was nowhere to be found.

In closing, is it possible for 3D to become a mainstay in the mainstream?  Yes.  However, companies need to abandon their current attempts.  The successful 3D I envision will be reminiscent of Leia’s holographic message to Obi-Wan in A New Hope.  Laugh as you may, but such technology would not require glasses, goggles, or helmets and is the break from the norm and necessary innovation that the public could be seeking.  I’m not saying this is what will be the eventual winner, but companies working on 3D technology need to realign their thinking and abandon their current efforts.  Sure it is some years off, but I can wait.  After all, with a price tag I can only guess at, we’ll all need time to save up those recreational dollars.  For now, the masses are quite content with the beauty of our good old 2D.

Let’s be perfectly honest.  I want to see a show of hands.  How many people are just totally perplexed and confused when I blurt out techno jargon terms like “Category 2,” “1.3B,” “xvYCCYC Deep Color,” “bitstream,” “PCM,” and so on?  This is the language us techno geeks love to speak, but it can be damn right confusing for the lay population of casual electronic users who just want to see a sharp picture and be audibly impressed every time a random onscreen airplane flies by. 

So where’s the happy medium here?  Do you really need to spend the $100 for that 3 foot Monster HDMI cable the Best Buy clerk is telling you that is mandatory for your new equipment or will the $30 Phillip-Magnavox one at Wal-Mart work just fine?  The honest answer to that question is simply no on both accounts.  Sure the Monster cables are built really nice and come with a lifetime guarantee, but really, once you hook your HDMI connected equipment up, how often will you be fussing with and/or moving it?  If you answered not too often to both of those questions, then I have the solution for you!

The truth is that Joe Best Buy clerk does not want you to know that even a HDMI cable that costs fewer than $10 will work just as good as any $100 Monster cable.  Now pay attention to this next part.  There are only a small handful of specs I want to point out that you should pay attention to when buying an HDMI cable.  I will get to them momentarily below.  So let’s get down to business!

Thankfully, the good folks over at PS3HDMIcable.com were nice enough to let us play with and test drive one of their 6 feet HDMI cables they market towards the Playstation 3 gaming community.  That’s perfect since I already own a PS3.  But here’s the real kicker.  This HDMI cable we received doesn’t cost the 100-dollar blood bank charge associated with Monster cables and it doesn’t even cost the $30 price tag normally found at Wal-Mart.  Actually it’s less than half of that.  Try $12.99 on for size!  So how does it hold up against the “monstrous” competition?  Let’s find out!

Remember I said just a moment ago that there are a handful of specs I want you to pay attention to when shopping for an HDMI cable?  Well here we go.  If you do not have any equipment capable of or any desire to get into the 3D market anytime soon, then HDMI 1.4 is not for you.  It is backwards compatible with all HDMI sources, but I just don’t want you to get ripped off thinking you have to have it.  Now if you plan on bitstreaming your audio from your Blu-ray player to your HD capable receiver, then a HDMI 1.3 Category 2 certified cable is a must.  Almost all HDMI cables on the market support this whether or not the box says it does is a whole other story.  By the way, bitstreaming means letting your HD capable receiver decode the Hi-Def audio from your Blu-ray player.  All your Blu-ray player does is pass the raw data over the HDMI 1.3 cable.  If you let your Blu-ray player decode the audio, then you are just passing PCM signals over the HDMI cable to your receiver.  In that case, any HDMI cable would work fine for you.  Just make sure that your hardware on both ends of the HDMI cable support the same specs.  For example, if your Blu-ray player is HDMI 1.3 compliant, but your receiver is not, then the most expensive HDMI 1.3 cable in the world is not going to be able to bitstream HD audio.  Understand?  Good.  I hope I did not lose anyone there.  Just in case there is still any confusion I graciously clipped the below chart from Wikipedia that I think does a pretty good job of reiterating visually what I just stated above.

All right, let’s get back to talking about this HDMI cable I received from PS3HDMIcable.com.    For $12.99 this HDMI cable gives you a sturdy triple shielded 28 Gauge protection capable of 340 Mhz 10.2 Gbps.  The gold plated connectors perfectly support resolutions of 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p (you beautiful Blu-ray picture) and even 1440p.  It also supports the coveted DTS-MA and Dolby TrueHD Lossless audio codecs over 8 channels to give you true 7.1 surround sound nirvana.  And best of all, yep…it retails at only $12.99.  What a value!  Why spend the $100 on a Monster cable that will give you the same results as this equal counterpart does?  Notice I said equal counterpart.  How can I be so bold in my words?  Well that’s simple.  Are you ready for this?  This $12.99 PS3HDMIcable.com cable is certified at the same HDMI facility as Monster cables, making this essentially the same “premium” quality as the Monster brand.

Skeptical?  So was I at first.  But I gave this cable a test run and it truly delivers on giving me not only the razor sharp pristine picture I know and love, but also the dynamic HD audio my ears always come back begging for more of.  If you are still confused about the HDMI technology and tired of paying ridiculous prices for you’re A/V cables, then give PS3HDMIcable.com a call at 866-966-1733 or simply stop by their website to try one out for yourself.  Their warranty covers every cable they sell against defects in material and workmanship for the life of the HDMI cable.  With that being the case what do you really have to lose?  Leave us a comment below if you have any questions, comments and/or concerns about the HDMI related topic discussed above.  Thanks again to the folks over at PS3HDMIcable.com for letting us test drive on your cables and for giving me the inspiration to write this article.  After all, I was once an uneducated HDMI consumer so many years ago, so I know what it is like to be confused over which HDMI cable is really necessary.  As always, thanks for reading! 

So other than a Netflix membership, what do you need to use the service?  You can watch it on your computer (both Windows and Mac are supported. Linux is not, at least as far as I can tell), on a Playstation 3 (a special free DVD from Netflix is required), on an Xbox 360 with the “gold tier” package, and some Blu-ray players that have built in Netflix compatibility.   The Wii is supposed to be getting Netflix capability soon, although at present it looks like it won’t be able to stream in HD.  And if you really want to throw away a hundred bucks, you can buy a set-top box that does nothing but play Netflix movies.    Since I happened to have all the necessary prerequisites (a Netflix subscription, a Playstation 3, a high speed internet connection, and a 1080 p high def TV), I figured I’d check it out.

Content – 3 out of 5

It should come as no surprise that the main thing lacking on the streaming service is major new releases.  In fact, some studios are even starting to impose a 28 day window on when Netflix and other low cost disc rental services like Redbox can offer their titles for rent on DVD and Blu Ray.  The hope is that consumers will buy more DVDs and Blu-rays, or at the least pay higher prices to rent from the remaining brick and mortar stores or order higher priced “On Demand” movies through cable and other outlets. 

But there are some fairly big recent releases available.  Just as an example, Obsessed, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Traitor, and Wall-E are all on the service.  And the selection of recent independent and foreign films is even better.  Schlock fans can also rejoice, with lots of recent horror, sci-fi, and exploitation films like Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus and the recent It’s Alive remake available.  If you’re looking for old favorites or a classic (or not so classic) older movie you’ve just never gotten around to seeing, you’ll fare even better. 

Television is well represented, too, with all but the most recent season of most popular shows available.  In addition to network programs like Lost, 30 Rock, and The Office, Netflix also has most Showtime original series available to stream.  Sadly the same is not true for HBO programs, so you’ll still need to use your rent-by-mail queue if you want to see True Blood.  You’re still not going to find everything you want, but by the time you get done putting the 50^th or 60^th title in your queue, you probably won’t care. 

Image Quality – It Depends

First, the good news.  A large portion of the Netflix streaming library is available in 1080p high definition video.  The bad news is, it may not matter to you.  The simple fact is, to watch high def video over the internet without too many annoying glitches, you need enough bandwidth to handle it.  If you only have a 3mbps DSL connection, you’re probably going to have to settle for standard def.  If your playback device is not connected to the internet directly and you are using a network, make sure your router can handle high speeds. 

My set-up involves a cable modem with 10mbps and a wireless router that could stand to be a little stronger.  The result is that, when everything is working optimally, I get true HD video and it looks great.  Most of the time, however, my signal isn’t quite strong enough and the playback reverts to SD.  The SD playback looks okay, but as can happen when watching SD video on a 1080p TV, sometimes there are issues with pixilation and blurriness.  I have the same issues when streaming high quality avi and mpeg files from my hard drive to the TV.   My guess is a better router would solve these problems.

Audio – 2 out of 5

The reason I’m rating the audio so low is that Netflix currently only streams in stereo.  Otherwise the sound quality is fine.  But if you’ve got a home theater with surround sound, chances are you want to watch content that takes advantage of that as much as reasonably possible.  It’s not a deal breaker for me, but I can see how it would be for some.

Additional Issues

90% of the time, playing something using the Netflix streaming service works fine.  That said, there have been occasional glitches.  One episode of a TV show played with the sound slightly out of synch with the video.  Why?  I have no idea.  When I first started using the service, about every other title I played would freeze at some point and have to rebuffer.  The last couple of weeks, it’s only happened once or twice, so apparently something has been tweaked (nothing different on my end). 

Overall Rating – 2 ½ out of 5

The bottom line is, this is still a fairly new product.  And as with any new product, there are going to be bugs.  For me, the good (instant access to a lot of content at no additional cost over what I was paying already for the standard rent-by-mail service Netflix offers) outweighs the bad (occasional hiccups and reduced audio and video quality).  No doubt others will be less forgiving.  Hopefully I’ve provided enough information that you can figure out which camp you fall into.

To read more by Bob, visit his movie and music review blog at

Use the Amazon pre-order link below and select which PS3 system you want to order.  You can chose between the current 80GB system, the new 120GB Slim model and the 160GB system that is bundled with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.  The choice is yours!  And best of all…1% of all your total purchase amount gets donated directly to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  So help make a difference in the life of a child and get the BEST price on a PS3 with no tax and no shipping charges (unless you live within the state of WA).  Thanks for your continued support!

I am trying out this new website called ehow.com so check out the how-to-guide that I teased about above by clicking here.  Please let me know what you think after reading the post by writing some comments there for me.  Thanks for reading and for your support!