INDUSTRY GROUP PUTTING POSITIVE SPIN ON DVDS.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

In a sign that much-hyped DVD technology is catching on, a consumer electronics trade group predicted Tuesday that U.S. sales of DVD players will more than double this year from 325,000 units in 1997 to 750,000.

Although final 1997 sales will be about 25,000 short of projections originally made by the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, CEMA spokesman Ed Korenman said, ``We think it's a pretty good launch for something that wasn't even in the stores before last April. . . . Any new technology is going to take a couple of years to catch on.''

Digital versatile discs are the same size as audio compact discs but with seven times the capacity. DVDs can play full-length movies with digital clarity and six-channel sound along with features like massive background information and instant rewind.

Korenman said the retail price paid for basic DVD players has started to drop under $500 as second-generation machines come into the market. ``Prices should continue to come down this year,'' he added.

Tom Adams of Adams Media Research said the projection, to be officially released Thursday at the opening of the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is in line with his forecasts. He noted the numbers nearly match the sales figures generated by compact-disc players in the mid-1980s.

``We are still bullish on DVD,'' Adams said, adding that the technology will receive major boosts this year from the introduction of recordable DVDs and from the increased use of DVDs in personal computers. ``By 1999, DVD will be standard in most PCs,'' he predicted.

Some analysts are less optimistic due to the downturn in the Japanese market, where the machines were launched in late 1996, and potential confusion over a pay-per-view DVD format called Divx to be released later this year.

DVD will have a massive presence at the Winter CES while no Divx machines are planned for display, Korenman said. The show is a key launch point for new technologies in the retail marketplace.

The four-day show, sponsored by the Electronics Industry Association, will have over 1,700 exhibits and should draw more than 90,000 people. Barry Diller, who agreed in October to buy most of Universal Studios' TV assets, will give the show's keynote address when the event opens.