I don't know about Hollywood Strings, but I know a bunch that are using Lass Lite (the version without the divisi patches).

You'll need a great reverb to glue LASS well together, and in the Lite version without the divisi, you'll need to pan the strings properly as it doesn't come panned out of the box. They say it takes a bit work to get LASS to sound great, but also that it's worth it.

Personally, I have EWQL Gold, and hardly ever use it due to the ambience in the patches. I just can't get it to sound right in a mix. The PLAY engine also messes up my DAW, so I've ruled out EW products. I layer Session Strings from NI, with the strings in Kore and/or Kontakt or Omnisphere, which is fine for what I do (pop/rocck), but not really sufficient for orchestral work.

As far as I can tell, the competition uses Symphobia and LASS for mock-ups, together with Altiverb. If you don't have those, you'll be behind in the race. Some use the Vienna stuff. That's what I've picked up anyway, and the reason I won't move further in that direction. Way too expensive, and the competition is fierce! To justify those things, orchestral really need to be your metiér. LASS, Symphobia and Altiverb is about 3000$ all in all.

I personally better like the sound of the Vienna strings, the Special Edition and Special Edition Plus seems great value for the money, but what do a rock'n roller really know about the finer nuances of midi.. I'm going to get the new Session Strings Pro, that has a fully editable "animator" and release samples. It's not for Hollywood sounding orchestral work, but for pop/rock it looks great.

Either way, seems to me Lass is becoming the industry standard, so that's the one to get. For thick lush patches, Symphobia. You can try the demo here http://www.try-sound.com/ . Alternative route, Vienna strings.

Maybe also check out the new Cineorch from Cinesamples http://cinesamples.com/products/cineorch/ . I'd bet it can make most string libraries sound great, no matter what you decide.