Nikon D5200 how bad of a dSLR for video is it?

It cloud be worse.

It looks to have a very standard HD video mode (30FPS 1080p) nothing to get excited bout.
I would imagine the lens would be key here. Sticking with the kit 18-55mm will not yield good results. Invest in a good bit of glass and for small projects I don't foresee an issue.

If you already have some Nikon lenses, sticking with them might be the best option.

If you go to Flickr you can search by camera to get a taste of what sort of quality the D5200 can produce here http://www.flickr.com/cameras/nikon/d5200/

They look alright to me. Another good review site (with sample images) is
dpreview. They give it 79%

http://www.dpreview.com/search/?query=d52&product=nikon_d5200

And of course Nikon themselves. http://nikon.com/news/2013/0718_reddotaward_01.htm

Some countries are doing cash back on this model this summer.

It was a camera I thought about when buying my D3200 but it was a bit expensive for me.

Why not a Panasonic GH3?

If you're looking for a DSLR with shooting video in mind, why not the Panasonic GH3, which shoots video leagues better than any of the cameras mentioned? It shoots 50mbps AVCHD, 72mbps all-intra .mov files, it doesn't have a limit for recording like those cameras (they all stop recording after 30 minutes while the GH3 can shoot as long as there is room on the card) and the stills are comparable to a Canon 7D. It also shoots 1080p at 60p for great slow motion - not even the 5D MK3 does that.
Links:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gh3
http://www.eoshd.com/content/9920/gh3-review
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2013/01/panasonic-gh3-hands-on-camera-review/

Or if you're on more of a budget, much of the same quality can be had from the new Panasonic G6 for about $650:
http://www.eoshd.com/content/10824/panasonic-g6-review-the-gh2-redux

If you have a D50 and some Nikon lenses already then stick with Nikon. But the suggestion about the 4/3rds system above is good. It's more money. You would spend $2K on a GH3 system and a used Nikon Body from KEH.com is cheaper by far. I guess it depends on what Nikon lenses you already own.

The D5200 will shoot decent video if you are not trying to shoot news and sports. In other words if you can control the action it will do real well. You will need some way to record the audio because the audio is primitive. Just get a portable recorder, headphones and some microphones

The SLR lacks some features like a powered zoom with a speed control and you will need to manually focus if the distance changes but that is just how SLRs work. Use a tripod all the time because the IS in the Nikon is not going to work as well as you like.

Depth of fuel will be like with stills. You'd need a fast lens for a very selective focus effect just like with stills.

I think that one of the main issue with Nikons is that you can't control the aperture while recording. I am also looking into film maing with a dSLR and that's what really threw me off from upgrading from my D3100 to the D5200

I think the D5200 is an incredibly underrated camera! No moire or aliasing and clean uncompressed 4:2:2 HDMI out for capturing footage in RAW is priceless! For it's price range you really can't go wrong. At this point the T5i and T4i are overrated as personally I have a T2i and T3i and the newer generations have given no reason to upgrade especially since I'm very happy with magic lantern. I know the aperture is an issue to some but if you work with ND filters which I prefer to do so anyway it shouldn't really be an issue. Check this review out!

http://www.eoshd.com/content/9653/nikon-d5200-review

The Nikon D5200 is a great little camera, it's very underrated IMHO.

If you're serious about video I would go for the D7100, it's far better suited and allows for live preview of video via the HDMI. For myself it allows me to do HD video to my BMD TV Studio with Chroma keying for presentation graphics, for the reason it does Live Preview I had to choose the D7100 over the D5200 because in some respects it's very underpowered for serious video.

For buying a DSLR with video I would strongly suggest/recommend the D7100 because it's far better suited for this type of work opposed the to D5200. However if budget is an issue you can pick up D7000 that does 80% of the D7100 videowise at a bargain basement price, infact you'll be able to pick a D7000 cheaper than a D5200.

With most DSLRs for video you are only ever going to get as good result as the glass you are using and many of the camera won't allow for switching aperture whilst recording.

The issue with going to the D600 and D800 is prices, then you have to factor in the price of decent glass which can/will double the prices.