E6400-Displayport only passes 2 channel audio??

ANY first hand opinion is appreciated.

I'm sure this topic is more popular as more folks buy large flat screen TV's with or without premium A/V receivers then try to leverage their laptop as a media source.

Well, it seems my E6400 displayport will only output 2 channel stereo signal. I have been reading information across the internet for weeks and trying various audio drivers with no resolution. By the way, my setup uses the displayport to HDMI adapter sold on Dell website specifically for the E6400.

Most existing E6400 and E6500 threads contain endless confusion and arguments over whether the displayport will output HD digital audio. Well the answer to that is unequivocally YES, but........only 2 channel stereo!!! It's roughly same format and sound you get from a 20 year old CD player. If you have more than 2 speakers on your A/V system, good luck.

To prove my hardware setup isn't causing confusion, I substituted my daughter's Dell XPS-M1330 laptop with HDMI connector. Voila, full 5.1/7.1 digital audio output capability! My brand new Onkyo Receiver confirms this thru panel display and my trained ears serve as double confirmation.

Claims that Dell's IDT 92HDxxx audio drivers are the culprit don't seem to be true. Using native Win7 audio drivers or popular Realtek audio drivers don't seem to change the outcome, unless I'm missing something.

ps: my E6400 has the standard Intel GMA4500 video.

Interestingly, Lenovo laptop users with displayport are having the exact same issue. Lenovo's forum experts stated for the record that their displayports are limited to 2 channel digital output and they can't support digital dolby, 5.1 or 7.1.

If someone has actually found a way to get an E6400 or E6500 to output a genuine dolby digital signal with more than 2 channels, please share how. Maybe I'm missing something, but I doubt it. The intel chip specs claim full multichannel digital capability, but that means nothing as witnessed by the similar Lenovo saga.

With no S/PDIF or coaxial digital audio outputs, it seems there's no reasonable fix.

 

OK, blew another 4 hrs on this and got it working. Tried another E6400 and set it to the latest windows 7 drivers (labeled as intel). The properties still says 2 channel sound, but it's sending full 7.1 thx thru the displayport with proper media.