SithTrooper said:

I've got both the DVD5 and MKV versions, but have only burned the DVD5 copy (which looks great btw). My question is ... with only having a DVD burner, can I do anything with the MKV to shrink it down to a DVD9? I've got programs like Freemake that will accept MKVs and burn them to a DVD, but I'm afraid that the compression might be too much. Need some help from the experts.

I believe you can use mkvmerge to split an mkv into multiple discs based on time or duration. A split will generally occur at the nearest keyframe, regardless of where you specify the split.

What I am not sure about is whether the bitrate of the mkv will be too much to play back from a DVD without glitching. Perhaps that is why the AVCHD will be half the size of the mkv.

If you don't mind wasting a few DVDs and changing discs during playback, I suggest you test it out, otherwise wait for the AVCHD.

Bluray burners are becoming much cheaper and are worth the investment if you are going HD as it preserves the maximum quality and saves a lot of stuffing about with time consuming extra compression: the LG is about $85.