Canon's GL2 is a good cam but kind of out dated... even though you can still find them new.
A good cam that I recommend is Canon's hv-30
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...96MP_CMOS.html
(Canon hv-30)
This is a High Definition Cam (as opposed to the GL2 which is in the out dated standard definition format)
The hv-30 is often used by pro-videographers as an extra cam.
Yes the tapes are 1 hour, but I swear you will forget all about that when u use it.
You will just use the firewire to 'capture' the video to your mac using imovie (I think). Mac is set up for this so don't worry.
One drawback of the Mac is that it does not offer blu-ray technology yet. However, you can burn your movies to a standard DVD and the will look nice and sharp on your big screen at full 720i resolution.