By "cast," you mean "tell the Chromecast to fetch/display content", rather than "show streaming video of my device's screen"?
This is part of what I'm asking: I don't get the usage model. I prefer using the STB directly with a remote (and no other client device), or pushing the client device's screen to the STB. If you're saying that you use "tabcasting" (which I guess is remotely-directed Chromecast web surfing), then fine. It's not something I'd ever use, but I understand that the equivalent doesn't exist on other STBs.
Please don't get me wrong: I would prefer if there were an open AirPlay equivalent that Android and iOS devices supported at the OS level. But I don't think that's what you're talking about.
The idea is that your phone (or tablet or laptop or whatever) becomes your remote. If you want to watch something on Netflix you pull the phone out of your pocket, launch your Netflix app, and then hit the Chromecast button to send the output to the TV. It's not a separate UI, just a separate destination for the video content you've already selected. For me, the simple fact of never having to hunt for a remote is enough to justify the $35.
On a technical level: what the chromecast is doing is simply streaming content from local devices on the Wifi LAN. It has no UI of its own and won't fetch content by itself. The codec suite is limited when compared to Android: it supports H.264 baseline, VP8, MP3 and AAC. And I believe the container must be either MP4 or WebM.
No, you can also stream to the chromecast. e.g. Google's "cast tab". I use it to watch stuff off my plex server or hulu (don't have a hulu plus account).
I know what's available- I have one myself, I just don't ever use it. I don't have a Hulu Plus subscription, nor do I buy music/video through the Play Store. Chrome tab performance is weak at best.
I guess I'm just hoping for a lot more than what I have right now.
That's the reason to be excited about the SDK release, but honestly, regardless of the number of apps even available, I just don't use that many services that I want to stream to my TV. The current crop does pretty well. I would like to see the ability to throw a Flash object to the screen so I can play any embedded video, and I hope to see interesting games and ambient apps, but that's about the extent I can think of.
Chrome tab performance may be weak due to a slow router. I bought a newer Asus and it helped quite a lot. I can play youtube videos within a Chrome tab and it works perfectly well, even with the router several bedrooms away.
With the opening of the SDK, presumably anything - even so far in the comments on this HN posting there are already few individuals who are happy their local media streaming servers can be published, and it wouldn't be too hard to imagine that VLC plugins or something similar are too far behind.
HBO Go and Plex are two apps I am using very frequently with my Chromecast... That gets me both external and locally stored content without a dedicated HTPC to play the media.
legally and in high quality? not really. I wouldn't throw a superbowl party without tv access, but if you want to watch your favorite team when you otherwise can't, its definitely possible.
This is part of what I'm asking: I don't get the usage model. I prefer using the STB directly with a remote (and no other client device), or pushing the client device's screen to the STB. If you're saying that you use "tabcasting" (which I guess is remotely-directed Chromecast web surfing), then fine. It's not something I'd ever use, but I understand that the equivalent doesn't exist on other STBs.
Please don't get me wrong: I would prefer if there were an open AirPlay equivalent that Android and iOS devices supported at the OS level. But I don't think that's what you're talking about.