> Do Production Assistant and PA2 overlap in functionality?

Production Assistant 2 has everything that version 1 has plus a whole lot more. PA2 is the next version of the same product.

> Is Production Assistant (the original) compatible with Pro 10?

Yes, except that you will need to have Vegas Pro 9.0 or 8.0 installed in order to install PA1 because PA1 will not find VP10 and think that Vegas is not installed. This means that you cannot install PA1 if you only have VP10.

> A particular concern of mine is have a library of lower thirds, which include titling to appear within the lower third. The text would vary per scene. Perhaps an icon would vary. Which of these would give the best features with Pro 9, or with Pro 10?

Production Assistant 2.0 can automatically create the text event on a separate track from the text template of your choice. Both the standard Text Generator and the ProType Titler is supported. PA1 has no such support and you would have to manually create the text events yourself.

> Recommendations assuming you have Pro 9, thinking about PA1, PA2, and Pro 10.

Since Production Assistant 2 has more functionality than PA1 and it is the same price it would make no sense to buy PA1. PA2 works with Vegas Pro 8.0, 9.0 & 10.0.

> Cost is an issue, so understanding what would be gained in real use is important.

Production Assistant is a productivity tool. You can make your money back the first time you use it making a photo montage in seconds instead of hours. You would have to figure out what your time is worth to do all that it does manually.

~jr