I think the .mp3 equivalent for the rendering business is the GPU.  Look at something like nVidia's realtime "Samaritan" video and try to imagine how long that would take to render using Poser's renderer.  Within two years the expected level of real-time graphics realism will be unattainable to all but a handful of Poser gurus.

This video may still be in the uncanny valley, but it looks like they're getting pretty close to climbing out the other side...  (Contains some colourful language)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1va8FxBl7Cg&feature=player_embedded

Samaritan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttx959sUORY