15 April 2016: For crying out loud, don't watch Do You Remember Love? first
We've got a new Macross series now, and by the looks of it (through the first two episodes, at least), it seems to be pretty good. As a Macross fan, I'm glad to see the new series get positive attention, but this renewed interest is not without pitfalls. Some neophyte fans attempt to get a feel for the Macross universe by watching the Do You Remember Love? (Chō Jikū Yōsai Macross: Ai Oboete Imasu ka) movie before they watch the original series. Look, don't do that.
The Macross canon is dubious enough from a continuity standpoint that it's not really necessary to have a detailed education in its backstory before understanding or enjoying each new series. You will almost certainly be able to start watching Macross Δ as your first Macross and be completely fine. All you really might need to know is there was a war between humans and an alien race of giants, and humans ultimately prevailed thanks to the unexpectedly potent powers of pop music and making out with teenagers.
So, if you want to watch the previous Macross series to get hyped for Macross Delta, go ahead and do so, but it's not really something you need to do. And if you're going to do it at all, you may as well at least do it right. Specifically, do not watch Do You Remember Love? without watching the original series unless you are certain you have absolutely no interest in watching a 36-episode anime series from the '80s.
The DYRL movie is not "basically the same thing" in movie form. It hits many of the major themes, but the movie and the original television series differ so much that it makes no sense to watch the movie first unless you don't intend to watch the series at all.
If you actually don't plan on watching the original series, then fine, go ahead and watch the movie. I can respect that even though the original Chō Jikū Yōsai Macross series is in my top four of all time. The '80s was a long time ago, and 36 episodes is like fourteen-and-a-half hours. However, if all you really want to do is watch some sort of Macross before starting Macross Delta and don't have a lot of time, just watch the two Macross Frontier movies instead.