Intel G33 HDMI audio / Windows 7 / multi-channel support (1 Viewer)

I have a Shuttle SG33G5 small-form-factor system, based on an Intel motherboard with a G33 chipset. (It's about 18-24 months old - not the absolute latest stuff.)

After installing Windows 7 and all available drivers, I'm stuck with only two-channel digital audio output over the HDMI connection.

Any thoughts on how I can get back 7.1 HDMI audio support? There weren't drivers at the Shuttle Web site to replace the ones that come with Windows 7. The system setting to set >2 speakers was grayed out. So it appears that the driver that MS provides only implements 2.0 audio support.

Also Googled a bit but haven't yet found a fix.

Install the vista drivers?

The G33 does not support 7 channel over HDMI. It doesn't support LPCM over HDMI. It supports 2 channel uncompressed audio only, or streaming DD/DTS bitstreams.

The G45 was the first to really do that. Despite claiming they'd do this and that with the G33, Intel never put out drivers worth sin to accomplish any of that.

So, if all your getting is 2 channel LPCM, that's correct, you'll need to set it to allow bitstream over HDMI. In Win7, that's under advanced properties of the device in the sound manager.