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I'm sure this gas been already covered somewhere but, can someone please point me in the right direction to find out how best - easily and cheaply! - to record a video of myself playing?

If you have a web camera, you can actually record a video thru online by allowing YouTube to access directly to your web cam. That's what I've been doing. Video quality is not so good, but good enough for me.
So here is how;
When you sign up and got your account going, you will have a "Upload" button on the top right hand of the screen, and then you will see a button called something like "record directly from web cam" on the top right hand. Click on it and then allow YouTube to access by clicking on the tiny little radio button on the web cam window, and then you are ready to record. It is way easier, faster than uploading something already recorded with a video camera. Good luck!

Thanks so much coffelover!

...btw, I enjoyed your video of the Bach Inventions very much. As for myself, I've managed to learn - and memorise - what you might call some 'difficult' pieces, such as a couple of Schubert Impromptus but, for some mysterious reason, I can't get a single Bach two-part invention under my belt. I've been trying to learn No 1 in C for months now! ...my left hand could really do with some Bach workouts!

Perhaps the cheapest option is to buy a well-built webcam, such as Logitech Quickcam 9000. It is their "high-end" model and has decent video quality. I will try posting something with it during next week, perhaps. It goes for around 70$.

To achieve significantly better quality you should look for a digital camera with the capability of recording movie clips (most of these have the feature), but the price tag will be at an entirely different level.

How to record it's a matter of taste - as I do some postprocessing, I always record beforehand. If you intend to record and post it immediately, recording directly on YouTube's website, just like CoffeeLover says, may be a feasible option.

Edit: I have just remembered. There was a thread about "Flip" portable video recorders (http://www.theflip.com/) one day. I remember some good things were said about these. They are not available in Poland and I have no idea how good they are, but might be worth looking!

Mateusz

Thanks to you too, Mati!

I believe I do have a suitable digital camera, as you describe.

If you own a modern(ish) video camera, most allow you to hook them up to a PC via FireWire and transfer the footage to the PC for editing / rendering into a movie format for uploading or creating a DVD. More expensive than a web cam, but has the added advantage that you can film your holidays and transfer it to a DVD whilst cutting out all the times you left the lens cap on or filmed the floor

Sony Vegas Platinum is a great entry level piece of software for putting together a video and includes a DVD authoring app too, although you can also start out with Windows Movie Maker if you want to really keep costs down.

Thought I'd throw the option out there anyway

Thanks to you too, Gary!

I've now got several options to consider and, thanks to the replies and my subsequent investigations, I'm already feeling much more knowledgeable on this subject.