Axis M1065-LW review

The Axis M1065-LW is one of the smallest IP cameras on the market, making it an attractive option for offices seeking a discreet indoor surveillance solution. What's more, despite its miniscule dimensions, it comes with a list of features to match IP cameras twice its size.

That includes a maximum resolution of 1080p at 25fps, with support for both wired and wireless network connections. With an integrated infrared illuminator and a PIR motion sensor, it can detect movement and record video in the dark as well as the daytime.

There's also an internal microphone and speaker for two-way audio, and a micro-SD card slot, so you can store video locally as well as to network storage. It's a shame that there's no PoE support, but the included PSU has a decent 2.9m cable, so your positioning options aren't too limited.

We found the camera took less than a minute to set up over a wired connection, and its native web interface is very easy to use. From here, setting up a wireless connection is simplicity itself: you can choose your SSID from a list, or simply use the WPS button on the side of the camera.

The M1065-LW impressed us with its video quality. Its live view is pin-sharp, with excellent contrast and colour balance. You can choose from 10 resolutions and configure multiple stream profiles, so you can set up different image sizes, frame rates and compression levels to suit different destinations.

For night-time operation the IR illuminator has a range of 10 metres and switches on automatically when light levels drop. We found the PIR sensor also worked well, with movement within 6 metres triggering our alert actions.

The one concession you'll probably have to make is accessing the camera via Internet Explorer. Neither Microsoft Edge nor Chrome supports the Axis Media Control plug-in required for H.264 streaming - so if you want to watch your feed in one of these browsers you'll have to live with MJPEG. And while Firefox will stream H.264 through the QuickTime plug-in, there's an annoying three-second video delay. Internet Explorer has no such limitations: we were happily able to stream in either video format, with latency of less than one second.

When we enabled audio, the web interface also installed an AAC decoder plug-in. Audio transmission is half-duplex: to speak to someone, you click and hold the Talk button at the bottom of the live view page,and let go when you want to listen to them. Overall sound quality isn't great, but it was good enough for us to hold a conversation with someone next to the camera.

The camera can be set to respond to a wide range of events, including motion (detected by either the camera or the PIR sensor), audio noise or camera tampering. The camera comes preloaded with Axis' clever Motion Detection 3 app, which offers variable sensitivity, so you can ignore small movements such as birds landing on the windowsill.

You can set up rules to link triggers to actions, such as recording to the micro-SD card or to a network share, sending images to HTTP and FTP servers or emailing them and playing a warning sound clip stored on the camera. You can also set up schedules to apply different rules at different times of the day.

It's a system with scope to grow, too: Axis' free Camera Companion software supports multiple sites, each with up to 16 cameras and provides centralised recording and playback facilities. The interface provides live views of assigned cameras, along with facilities for browsing recordings and a slick investigation mode for frame-by-frame viewing.

We found it automatically discovered our Synology NAS appliance, listed available shares for selection and set up motion detection for us. We also had no problems linking the Axis iOS app to our MyAxis cloud account and viewing camera feeds remotely from our iPad.

For a small office or shop, the M1065-LW is comparatively expensive, but it delivers premium protection for your business. It's small enough to be unobtrusive, and offers top-notch image quality and a comprehensive set of surveillance features.

This review originally appeared in PC Pro 270

Verdict

For a small office or shop, the M1065-LW is comparatively expensive, but it delivers premium protection for your business. It's small enough to be unobtrusive, and offers top-notch image quality and a comprehensive set of surveillance features.

1/3in. RGB CMOS; 2.8mm, f/2.0 lens

1080p max res

25fps

MJPEG/H.264

10/100 Ethernet

802.11n wireless

PIR sensor

IR illuminator

Internal mic/speaker

Micro-SD card slot

External PSU

Axis Camera Companion and Camera Station (1 licence) software

61 x 37 x 106mm (WDH)

128g

Wall mount bracket and table-top stand

3yr RTB warranty