Windows update killed my HD audio bitstreaming…

Hey all —

So, firstly.. let me explain that I’m way behind on this Windows 10 anniversary update, and I think the problem lies within that update. My laptop’s HDD died awhile back, so I’ve been without it for about 4 months. I just installed a new HDD and it’s back up and running. To be clear, everything worked fine on the same laptop running Windows 10 before, so I know this machine is capable of bitstreaming everything, even with Windows 10.

The driver for my hdmi audio output USED to be part of the onboard intel graphics driver. I’m almost 100% sure of this, though I could be wrong. Now it appears that Microsoft has taken over that driver (screen grab below) I’ve tried to reinstall the intel driver from my laptop’s manufacturer website (asus), but the install never finishes, it always gets an error such as ‘your system doesn’t meet minimum requirements’. *I assume this is because the laptop originally ran Windows 7*

Now the MS driver only recognizes DD, DD+, and DTS.

My question is; is there anyway to defeat that MS driver? Any kind of generic driver I could sneak onto my intel based ‘system’? Or any way to just work around at all? Am I forgetting to download a codec pack or something?

Extra info: I’ve tried Kodi, Atmos and DTS:X get sent as PCM despite the bitstream/passthru options. Also tried MPC-HD (set up to bitstream all formats), and get audio errors at the start of videos with these codecs,then it will play with no sound.

Here’s where I assume the problem lies… all the FAQ’s and notes online seem to agree as well – (note there are no Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD formats listed:

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! I’ve spent several hours trying to fix this on my own, and I just can’t figure it out.