Monitoring system

A monitoring system comprising:

• a television;
• a plurality of cameras to capture analog images of a location;
• and
• a monitoring apparatus comprising:
• an image analog-to-digital (A/D) converting unit, to receive the captured analog images from the plurality of cameras and convert the received analog images to digital images;
• a storage unit;
• a microcontroller, to receive the digital images from the image A/D converting unit, and compress the received digital images and store the compressed digital images in the storage unit according a first control signal from the television;
• and
• an image digital-to-analog (D/A) converting unit, to receive the digital images from the microcontroller and convert the received digital images to analog images;
• wherein when the microcontroller receives the first control signal from the television, the microcontroller outputs the received digital images to the image D/A converting unit, the D/A converting unit converts the received digital images to analog images and outputs the converted analog images to the television, and the microcontroller compresses the received digital images and stores the compressed digital images in the storage unit.