The Simpsons Season 8 was released on DVD in Norway yesterday. I didn’t buy it because I though I had ordered a copy from Amazon in the UK, a somewhat below-average smart move since it would have made the DVDs rather expensive because of taxes. Some investigation showed that I hadn’t bought it from Amazon after all. I think I might dream things at times.

Anyway, today after work I took the bus downtown, bought the DVDs, and then took another bus back home. I magically arrived at the bus stops, both at home and downtown, about thirty seconds before my bus, there was no queue at the store so it all went like a breeze.

Too good to be true? Yes, it was.

When I got home, I turned on my Windows Media Center and realized that there is suddenly something horribly wrong with the sound coming from the soundcard’s line out connectors. There is nothing playing on the box, the DVDs are safe in their cover, still I can hear a very distinct background noise. For no particular reason there is now a constant blur of white noise coming from the speakers.

It’s nothing wrong with my amplifier, I’ve checked that. It’s nothing wrong with my speakers, I’ve check that. I wiggled the audio cables and if they are pushed up, the sound almost disappears. But there is nothing wrong with the cables, as one might expect: I plugged a couple of headphones directly into the line out on the sound card and the white noise can be heard there, too.

It’s something wrong with my Amitech Homecenter Living 412, the worst piece of crap hardware I’ve ever bought.

Tomorrow I’m calling the store - again - hopefully it’s an easy fix. If not, I’m considering asking for a refund. Even if they fix it or not, the Amitech Homecenter Living is not a Windows Media Center box I’d recommend.

On top of this, the bloody thing is still turning itself on every now and then on what seems to be irregular intervals - except for midnight sharp.