Videos almost always out of focus

I recently upgraded from D40x to D5100. Great camera, and experiments showed much better image quality.

The main problem I'm having is that I can't seem to get video footage to ever be in focus. (When it is, the footage is beautiful, but mostly I get blurry video). The camera attempts to focus when I push the shutter release button halfway, but it can't seem to find anything to focus on when in "live view" mode, even in lighting situations where it focuses without a problem in normal mode.

Also, on the little screen, I can't tell if the image is in focus or not.

Any tips on getting this thing to focus better? As it is, I'm unable to reliably get any good video footage.

I'm old fashioned, so if you want good video footage, I'm going to say get a video camera. DSLR's are best at taking still pictures, not video.

First, it's not a great idea to use auto focus in video, it just gets in the way. Use the zoom in button below the monitor to check your focus. or set the cam to focus only when you depress the shutter halfway and the use your thumb to depress the AF=l/Ae-l button, that'll hold focus on the wherever it was pointed when you pressed the button.

Good point, photojack. Also good point romeo. But you're stuck with whatcha got right? So here's what you do. Dump that silly kit lens and grab a 35 or 50mm 1.8G lens for under $200. That solved that annoying issue for me at least, not that I shoot many videos with mine. A nice fast prime will get that sorted. Or it should.. Go to the store and play with one for a bit at least