A method of storing video data from a surveillance system, the method comprising: receiving an MPEG video stream comprising I-frames and relative-frames, the relative-frames including P-frames and/or B-frames; separating the I-frames from the relative-frames; storing the I-frames and the relative-frames from the MPEG video stream separately, including: storing the I-frames in a first circular buffer (20, 30, 40, 50) for long-term storage, wherein the first circular buffer is associated with a first period of time before I-frame data, stored in the first circular buffer at full frame rate for the surveillance system, is automatically overwritten with new I-frame data without monitoring elapsed time, and storing the relative-frames in a second circular buffer (20, 32, 44, 54) for short term storage, wherein the second circular buffer is associated with a second period of time before relative-frame data, stored in the second circular buffer at the full frame rate for the surveillance system, is automatically overwritten with new relative-frame data without monitoring elapsed time, wherein the first period of time for the long term storage is longer than the second period of time for the short-term storage; and providing information for combining the I-frames and the relative-frames to produce a full-motion video during a time period corresponding to the relative-frames data stored in the second circular buffer. receiving an MPEG video stream comprising I-frames and relative-frames, the relative-frames including P-frames and/or B-frames; separating the I-frames from the relative-frames; storing the I-frames and the relative-frames from the MPEG video stream separately, including: storing the I-frames in a first circular buffer (20, 30, 40, 50) for long-term storage, wherein the first circular buffer is associated with a first period of time before I-frame data, stored in the first circular buffer at full frame rate for the surveillance system, is automatically overwritten with new I-frame data without monitoring elapsed time, and storing the relative-frames in a second circular buffer (20, 32, 44, 54) for short term storage, wherein the second circular buffer is associated with a second period of time before relative-frame data, stored in the second circular buffer at the full frame rate for the surveillance system, is automatically overwritten with new relative-frame data without monitoring elapsed time, wherein the first period of time for the long term storage is longer than the second period of time for the short-term storage; and storing the I-frames in a first circular buffer (20, 30, 40, 50) for long-term storage, wherein the first circular buffer is associated with a first period of time before I-frame data, stored in the first circular buffer at full frame rate for the surveillance system, is automatically overwritten with new I-frame data without monitoring elapsed time, and storing the relative-frames in a second circular buffer (20, 32, 44, 54) for short term storage, wherein the second circular buffer is associated with a second period of time before relative-frame data, stored in the second circular buffer at the full frame rate for the surveillance system, is automatically overwritten with new relative-frame data without monitoring elapsed time, wherein the first period of time for the long term storage is longer than the second period of time for the short-term storage; and providing information for combining the I-frames and the relative-frames to produce a full-motion video during a time period corresponding to the relative-frames data stored in the second circular buffer.