Hi Will,
Honestly it's a lot easier to find bad videos, and take the lessons from them, such as they are!
Secondly, there can be a great amount of personal preference in the videos themselves. For example there is a certain following behind Kacem Zoughari:
Now, Kacem is very clean and precise in his movement, which is what gives him his following, but honestly I'm not really a huge fan of his. I see a lot of issues in his weapon usage, his distancing understanding, and more, as well as some issues with some of the material he is claiming to teach.
Next is that, depending on which organisation you are looking at, the idea of what is good will change as well (from a technical point of view). For example:
The Genbukan, under the instruction of Tanemura Sensei, is focused on the correct transmission of the arts, with a great emphasis on the correct spirit associated. Technical aspects are focused on strong performance of the kata.
The Jinenkan, headed by Manaka Sensei, has it's focus on training the kata from the Ryu exactly as in the Densho, in the correct order. The big focus is on heavy training in the Kihon (basics), then moving on to the Ryu-ha kata themselves.
On the other hand, the Bujinkan of Hatsumi Sensei is more about exploring the principles of martial arts as Hatsumi Sensei has come to understand them through constant variation, using the kata of the various Ryu as a 'jumping off' point. This leads to a great variance in technical ability across the organisation, as well as in knowledge.
Possibly the greatest respected video source for technical exploration comes from Adam Mitchell of the Jinenkan, by subscribing to his Budohall site (
www.budohall.com). There are some example videos on you-tube, such as this one:
If you are looking at starting a collection of videos for your own home usage, and you are training in the Bujinkan, I'd probably suggest Hatsumi Sensei's videos, particularly Kobudo no Kihon (
http://www.budovideos.com/shop/customer/product.php?productid=16852&cat=&page=1) and What Is Martial Arts? (
http://www.budovideos.com/shop/customer/product.php?productid=17083&cat=&page=1), followed by whatever you are most interested in (Bojutsu, sword, a particular Ryu-ha etc).
In terms of documentaries, the two best thought of are "Shinobi: Winds of the 34 Generations" (
http://www.budovideos.com/shop/customer/product.php?productid=24925&cat=&page=1)
and "Gift of the Traditional Martial Arts" (
http://www.giftoftma.com/), based on the Genbukan.
And, once again, avoid completely anything featuring or connected with Antony Cummins.
