A networked digital security system is disclosed that preferably includes a centralized administrator web server coupled via a communication network such as the Internet to a plurality of customer servers and a plurality of customer work stations. The centralized web server advantageously provides a point of control and management of the networked digital security system. The customer servers and customer work stations are preferably located at the customer's monitored sites. The customer servers are coupled to one or more intelligent camera units, which are preferably fully integrated intelligent units that gather, analyze, and transmit video, audio, and associated detected alarm event information to their associated customer server and the administrator web server. The camera units also include an intelligent automatic gain controller, an encoder buffer controller, and a network bandwidth priority controller. The system supports several compression algorithm standards.