In what could be a major coup in a fierce format war, Toshiba Corp. and its partners said Monday they have won support from four major Hollywood movie studios for their next-generation DVD.

They are pitching HD DVD as the de facto standard for future DVDs. Their rival is the Blu-ray format, promoted by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Sony Corp. and other firms.

Moves by the Hollywood studios have been watched closely, since they are believed to have tremendous influence on which format will be the next VHS and which will bite the dust like Betamax.

Their endorsement "is likely to have a significant impact on other Hollywood studios and consumer electronics makers," Yoshihide Fujii, president of Toshiba's Digital Media Network Company, told a news conference in Tokyo.

The four studios are Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, a part of Time Warner.

Their combined shares of DVD software sales in the U.S. are estimated at better than 40 percent.

These studios issued separate statements on the same day saying they will release movie titles in the HD DVD format. Universal Pictures, whose movies include "Van Helsing," said it will make "select titles available to consumers during holiday 2005."

HD DVD marked a big win by clinching the four major studios. The camp, including NEC Corp., has been seen lagging behind the Blu-ray effort.

Matsushita and Sony have already released Blu-ray recorders on the market. The Blu-ray faction also gained endorsement from Twentieth Century Fox, whose library includes "Titanic."

Toshiba said it plans to release an HD DVD player by the end of 2005 and an HD DVD recorder with hard drive a year later, both with price tags of less than 100,000 yen.