I went and viewed the threads that you gave URLs for. The first image became part of Poser Pro's startup imagry. These are his credits for the image:

Title: Embryo III
Name: Steve Barrett
Country: USA
Software: BodyPaint, CINEMA 4D, Modo, Photoshop, Poser

Though he does not say, I believe that the initial posing of the figure was done in Poser7 or Poser Pro. I do not believe it was actually rendered in Poser. More likely it was in Cinema 4D, and then there was extensive postwork. Its a beautiful image, I can see why it was chosen for Poser Pros start sequence. However, my main gripe has been that these images are not pure Poser renders showing what can be done in Poser alone. I don't believe that the skin shading or the lighting originated within Poser.

The second thread you sighted has these credits:

Title: The Final Battle
Name: Max Kor
Country: Israel
Software: Maya, mental ray

Cinema and Maya are professional apps that have more bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at as well as having professional price tags. Are they using some sort of HDRI light set up inside those apps? It's possible, but those systems of lighting are not the same system for HDRI used by Poser7 or Poser Pro. This is not to say that Poser cannot produce some beautiful images with the tools it has built into it (despite discussions I've read here on the forums about Poser's failings, if you read tutorials and push the app until it squeals, you can get some very nice stuff out of Poser). But these examples were produced with different tools and techniques. These images are like compairing apples and oranges. Just my two cents.

"A lonely climber walks a tightrope to where dreams are born and never die!" - Billy Thorpe, song: Edge of Madness, album: East of Eden's Gate

Weapons of choice:

Poser Pro 2012, SR2, Paintshop Pro 8