bleroy

Why is Stephen entirely silent?

Sure: the downloads tab on the bottom gives you access to wmv, wmv-hd and mp4.

SQL Server does optimize non-sproc queries pretty well. Contrary to what most people think, they are even faster in a number of cases because the server is often able to create a better execution plan depending on the parameters, as opposed to sprocs that have a fixed execution plan, which sometimes negates the effect of not having to compile the query.
As always when perf is involved, measurement is the only way to find out.