This paper designed an embedded video monitoring system using DSP(Digital Signal Processing) and ARM(Advanced RISC Machine). This system is an important part of self-service operation of numerical control machine tools. At first the analog input signals from the CCD(Charge Coupled Device) camera are transformed into digital signals, and then output to the DSP system, where the video sequence is encoded according to the new generation image compressing standard called H.264. The code will be transmitted to the ARM system through xBus, and then be packed in the ARM system and transmitted to the client port through the gateway. Web technology, embedded technology and image compressing as well as coding technology are integrated in the system, which can be widely used in self-service operation of numerical control machine tools and intelligent robot control areas.