A video in-of-itself is not a bad thing.
However, the notion of hijacking the user experience by auto-starting the video and restricting access to the content is a bad thing. It is extremely bad.
Listen, these days UX (user experience) is everything. Smart SEOs understand that bounce rates, time on site, number of pages read, time on page, are all metrics directly tied to the user experience. Do not mess it up.
Okay. Have the video. But DO NOT auto-start the video! And do not restrict users from your content.
Here is another secret. There are two kinds of people searching on the web: the short attention span entertain me now video viewers, twitter followers, texters; and the ones who want information that can be digested. People who are researching on the web will want to read and digest your content, not watch a video, though they may do that as well. The point is, anyone who is researching will gather information in the most efficient manner and that is reading, skimming, browsing, cut and paste for comparison or note taking, and so on. You cannot do these things with videos. I realize that videos were/may still be all the rage. When YouTube became popular and huge, everybody and their grandmother went out and made a video. Fine. But when companies did this, they found that videos did not always suffice and that good ol' fashion content was better. Videos help and are okay. But they are not a replacement for what most people really want to do- that is digest information.