Comes with a free GIGABYTE HDMI cable.

Yes, get what you pay for.

Does anyone know if you can transfer files to an attached HD via FTP or network with this?

The O!Play HDP-R1 eliminates the need to manually transfer multimedia data between multiple devices with its comprehensive LAN support. Simply connect the O!Player HDP-R1 to your notebooks, PCs, or even Network Attached Storage (NAS) to effortlessly stream any multimedia data to a display device. Additionally, the O!Play HDP-R1 supports huge bandwidth traffic for seamless high definition image quality with virtually no delays. With its eSATA connectivity, up to six times faster transfer speeds compared to conventional USB 2.0 connections can be achieved.

#3, that's the idea of it. It streams files from network shares or attached drives. Although it does not have any of its own internal storage.

Does this compare with the WD TV Live?

Does it compare with the Popcorn? Especially the firmware support of NMT and the userbase support of the Popcorn community?

eSATA is nice however Gigabit would be a nice option as well. This unit only covers RJ-45 to 10/100.

it's comparable to popcorn: $88 vs $300

I like this much better than WD. Firmware upgrade quite frequently. If you don't mind the physical size is bigger than WD Live, I really don't see any other downside for me.
The most important benefits to me are: (1)plays RMVB (not important for people don't watch Asian movies, but critical for who do watch) (2) play iso with full menu support (3) Other secondary things done right including, stand-by mode (hd not spinning), resume-mode (default to yes, not no). Maybe some of them could be or already are addressed by WD upgrade, but this player does them right out of box. It is a well engineered product among all the ones on the market now.

I'd like it to stream from an attached esata hd. I don't want it to be dependent on my network connection (especially when playing 1080p movies).

So, I guess the answer to my original question is "no."

"eSATA and LAN support"

You can stream from attached drives, eSATA, USB.

Can the Asus play DTS without a receiver like the WD Live can?

Has any of you ever compared the picture quality between Asus and WD TV Live when you play the same HD movie on the same TV? If not, so don't say Asus better WD. Ability to play RMVB and iso with full menu support becomes worthless to me if the picture quality too bad.

can be used to internet