Per Martin's recommendation I suggest we purchase 2 Yamaha S659 DVD players for the labs. They will cost $199 each at A&B Sound. My justification for the recommendation is that DVD playback in the labs is too flaky, convoluted and unreliable. I have easily spent $400 worth of labour on trying to resolve this issue, to no avail.

UPDATE: these have been ordered (early September 2007)