Another DVD thread... I was thinking of picking up the Alien Quadrilogy off of Amazon. Ridley Scott and Fincher are two of my favorite directors, and the set has a boadload of extra features. But then I was thinking about HD-DVD. Isn't Alien something to wait for for HD-DVD? Just like Matrix, Star Wars... Probably I'll have to sell LOTR on down the road too. Some movies I think you have to anticipate a HD-DVD re-release.
I would just go ahead and get it. HD-DVD player are at least 2yrs away from comming out and being affordable. It will then take a little while for studios to get to these particular set. If i had to guess i would say the Aliens set could be out in 3yrs minimum. Also they already have the set out on D-Theater so they could basically use that transfer when HD-DVD comes around which means Aliens could be one of the earlier titles released. I would suggest just buying the set now on dvd. You could then sell it on the secondary market(ebay) if it comes out on HD-DVD. The really did a great job remastering the pictue and sound of the films so you should really enjoy them.
The soonest we'll see HD-DVD(or Blu-Ray discs) is late 2005. The copy protection issue is the big holdup right now. And even after that format sees the light of day, it could be years before a lot of these titles like the Alien Quadrilogy are available. Basically, you need to ask yourself if you don't mind waiting possibly 3 or 4 years to get it on HD-DVD or if you'd rather own it now.