Low budget/amateur video set up. Recommendations needed.

[slipper]

I am planning to move to a foreign country for a year. I thought it would be fun to have a video set up to do my own little TV series to post on my Facebook for my family and friends to see. Sorta like something you would see Andrew Zimmern or Anthony Bourdain do on the Travel Channel. Nothing really serious, but i would like to be up-to-date with at least 720p HD video. Could you folks with a little experience in video help me with a low budget but high value set up. I'm thinking a budget of around $2000, maybe a little more if absolutely necessary but preferably less if possible.

I am currently in the market for a DSLR so i was thinking about getting a Canon T2i since it kills two birds with one stone and i have been pretty darn impressed with the video quality. I also have a Canon S95 compact (not a part of the budget) which has top notch video for its class. And maybe a VholdR or GoPro to supplement everything.

Whats a good but inexpensive audio recorder with hidden mic? I would probably need at least two or three of these. What else would you folks recommend? Keep in mind i have absolutely no experience in this field.

 

[FroColin]

If you have no experience in the field then a t2i might not be the way to go, you have to know what you're doing to get good video's and that can be really annoying if you don't and something awesome comes a long and you have have to get all the settings right and by the time you do it's gone, besides you will need to buy lenes. Why do you need two or three audio recorders? (Not arguing, just wondering). Also what are you editing in? That's important, maybe time to invest in FCE? It's only.... Actually I don't really know. I think it's 150. Make sure you back everything up (Hard drives will always fail), if you do use the t2i then back up the card and then transcode to prores (Or AIC (Apple intermediate codec)) because that stuff is big and you can probably get away with not backing them up.
The other thing is that you can get a good quality production with just what you already have if you really really try so don't get too equipment happy. You need to learn how to use it. If you don't understand the difference between two products you don't need the more expensive one