FACTBOX: Major standard battles in technology products

(Reuters) - Investors cheered the impending end of a format war for next-generation DVDs on Monday, pushing up shares of both Toshiba, on the verge of abandoning its HD DVD technology, and Sony, the leader of the rival Blu-ray camp.

A Toshiba source told Reuters on Saturday the company is planning to give up on its HD DVD format, conceding defeat to Blu-ray.

The battle has slowed the development of the high-definition DVD industry, which analysts estimate to be a multi-billion dollar market.

The following lists major battles for key technology products.

*Blu-ray VS HD DVD

Separate consortia led by Toshiba and Sony have battled for years to set the standard for optical discs and compatible video equipment for next-generation DVDs, a war often compared to the Betamax-VHS video cassette standoff of the 1970s and 1980s.

Sony-backed Blu-ray offers about three to six times more capacity than the current standard, with the potential to offer as much as 15 times. Rival HD DVD, developed by Toshiba, offers slightly less storage capacity than Blu-ray but claimed it had a cheaper technology. Blu-ray was launched in 2003, HD DVD in 2006.

Hollywood studios had initially split their allegiances between the two camps, meaning only certain films would play on any one DVD machine. The balance of power tipped decisively toward the Sony camp in January after Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros studio said it would only release high-definition DVDs in Blu-ray format.

U.S. retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc announced on Friday that it would abandon the HD DVD format and only stock its shelves with Blu-ray movies. Best Buy Co Inc and video rental company Netflix Inc also recently signed up to the Blu-ray camp.