Digital BW, The Print

While looking for information on converting to B&W in Lightroom 4 I found Silver Efex Pro 2 and Silver Shadows Pro. These two products came up in searches while I have heard of Silver Efex and have found that it is available as an Academic license the price of Silver Shadows is still lower. Has anyone used these and what are your thoughts.

I have also purchased books on LR 4 and have other books on B&W in photoshop and have watched some videos on converting to B&W. I have converted several and am mostly pleased with the result but they do not have the pop of the ones in the video. This may be the subject or the file I am using to convert they have been either scans of Fugi slides or 8 megapixel images from my Sony DSC-H3. I am doing a buy as I go so am still missing some important items that may help with viewing and printing.

Thanks for your time

Bill Lewis