Windows 7: win7 sharing with linux problem

I have a new satellite receiver which is linux based, it also doubles up as media centre where it can play youtube files and I can stream movies etc from my files on my pc via VLC server on pc.

I have the various addons on my receiver configured to my win 7 x 64 pc. Ip address as the server.

I have set up VLC on the pc as a server, with listening port 8080. I can see my files on my pc via the receiver but it wont actually play avi's etc. Although it recognised the avi's & mkv's etc.

I don't believe I have set up sharing correctly on the Windows 7 side. I have setup a workgroup, and shared all of the folders I want to share.

The other problem I have is the satellite receiver can share via NAS, which I have tried to set up. I have a formatted drive with 2 partitions one with os & programs, the other with my media files "d".

I am trying to set up a network mount in the receiver and and have input the following-

Share name DESMONDO-PC
Ip address of my PC
directory D
type of mount CIFS
Permissions RW

I have also disabled my firewall temporarily while attempting this, does anyone know what I might be doing wrong.

Do you get any errors when attempting to play these files? Could be codec or sharing...

For the sharing: Add the "Everyone" group with r/w (modify) and try it that way.
If you're still not able to play the files, it could be the files/codec