1. A digital video acquisition system, comprising: an imager for generating a sequence of digital video frame data; a master image processor, having an input coupled to receive the digital video frame data from the imager, for encoding the digital video frame data into a compressed format; a master memory, coupled to the master image processor, for storing encoded digital video data; a first slave image processor, having an input coupled to receive the digital video frame data from the imager, having a control input for receiving control signals from the master image processor, the first slave image processor for encoding the digital video frame data into a compressed format when enabled by the master image processor.