Digital Light & Color

I currently own PWP 5 and have been playing with the 7 beta for processing RAW files (Sony .arw) with excellent results. I've been comparing the output with other "big name" raw processor and in almost every case I prefer the images as processed by PWP 7! Also, the issues with white balance on my Sony RAW files appears to be fixed in this version. Thanks!
I have a couple of questions:
1. In most cases, in order to get the results I like, I end up boosting the Highlights and Shadows about 25%, and the Midtones about 12% - 15% in the RAW dialog. Does that sound correct, or should I be doing something else?
2. How does the sharpening in the RAW dialog compare to the regular sharpening transformation? Is it the same? Should I sharpen during RAW processing AND also use the sharpen transformation later?

First, the sharpening in raw I the same as USM sharpening in the sharpen dialog. The latter does provide some additional options, but if you are using the USM option, raw sharpening is equivalent.

The adjustments are quite individual and depend a great deal on how you expose your images in the first place. However you can set your most common settings as defaults by making those settings in the dialog and then choosing Set as Camera Default in the options menu.

Kiril