SANTA CLARA, CA – Intel Corp., which joined the HD-DVD Promotion Group last week, is also willing to support the rival Blu-ray format, if backers of the Blu-ray disc format will commit to allowing the copying of content from the discs to onto PCs and home multimedia services, Intel executive Donald McDonald said Tuesday.Joining the HD-DVD group was a change to Intel’s typically neutral stance where competing technologies are concerned. According to McDonald, the decision was based on Intel’s opinion that consumer concerns are being largely ignored in the process of bringing the two competing next-generation DVD formats to market.

Speaking at a news conference at the Ceatac exhibition in Chiba Japan yesterday, McDonald said “The reason we provided support for HD-DVD is that basically it has committed to several features, specifically the mandatory managed copy.”

Mandatory managed copy ensures consumers are able to copy content from disc to home servers, and copied on to portable devices for remote and mobile viewing.

“We have not heard an unequivocal statement from the Blu-ray camp to say that you’ll be able to have mandatory managed copy without any kind of complications and any kind of issues,” McDonald said. “So we could be thrilled if they were able to deliver a similar commitment. The opportunity is for Blu-ray to unequivocally commit to having exactly the same consumer-friendly features.”

Intel’s backing of HD-DVD doesn’t mean that their technology won’t work with Blu-ray Discs, McDonald said. As with other technologies, Intel will build the technical support required for the format into its chipsets and devices.

The HD-DVD consortium, led by Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo, plans to get its system to market by late December in Japan, while Sony’s Blu-ray (which is also back by Panasonic), plans to release its system in 2006. Both groups hope to replace current DVDs as the new standard for high-definition disc media.