That's some fancy vid-making, John. One question, though: I've tried that HDR plugin in multiple instances of FSX on several rigs and with three or four video cards, and I can't seem to get it working worth a hoot. Clearly I'm missing something. I'll have to pick your brain about what I might be doing wrong.
I'm picking this up from another thread: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showpost.php?p=305762&postcount=18.
This spring, we discussed a free Russian plug-in that produced a bloom-like effect, but with minimal effect on framerates: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=14917. I tried it a couple times, but gave it up: I liked the effect, but after awhile I always lost my antialiasing.
A few weeks ago, I installed the 64-bit version of Windows 7. Since then, FSX has been smoother. A few days ago, I also reinstalled the HDR plug-in. So far, it's working and I haven't lost my antialiasing. This makes me think it was a memory problem.
No promises here: I don't work for Microsoft, and I'm not paid to support their software. YMMV. Still, if you were going to install a new OS anyway, and you were on the fence about 64-bit versus 32-bit, think of this as another data point.