Audio through HDMI dv7 Quad edition [ Edited ]

[marszalito]

Hi,

My laptop name and number:

HP Pavilion dv7t-6c00 CTO Quad Edition Entertainment Notebook PC

a1l73av

Operating system:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit with SP1

The question:

I wonder if anyone can give me an accurate answer since I cannot find one anywhere else. I am planing to buy some bookshelf speakers that will be connected to my laptop through an a/v receiver. Since the laptop does not have any digital audio output I thought about connecting it using HDMI but I am not sure if it will work as I hope for. My target is to use this HDMI connection only as an audio connection to provide signal to the receiver and further to the speakers but I still want my video to be on the screen (the build-in one).  I have seen in the user guide that there is an option in Playback Device menu to select HDMI device as a default playback device but does it work even if the video is not streamed to the HDMI? Can anyone answer if the setup I have described is feasible? I know that I can connect through 3.5mm jack audio output but I do not want to, that's why I am asking about HDMI.

PS. The receiver I want to buy is either Yamaha RX-V471 or Denon AVR-1312.

Thank you in advance for any relevant answer.