DUDES. It looks like I'm going to have to half-assedly shoot a couple low-budget short videos in the upcoming months. I'm not going to dump $10,000 on a camera, but I'm looking for something higher tech than the Flip, with a mic input. These videos will ultimately be uploaded somewheres online, and while HD is nice, I just don't want it to look super crappy. Decent is a good benchmark.

Recommendations?

Canon Vixia series.
http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/camcorders/consumer_camcorders

Guessing that's about what you want to drop. Get yrself a decent tripod with a liquid head. Also, be sure that you have the computer to handle editing HD. Depending on which one you consider, and what you want--you can get manual focus/white balance/etc. Mine has a mini-jack, but you can easily get a mini>XLR adapter. If you want something more impressive, lemme know and I can hit you with some more suggestions.