My unknown condition external Blu-Ray drive arrived July 5. Model is a Pioneer BDR-XD07B, so no UHD. Not that it matters, since my intention is to burn data discs.

...The drive has shipping firmware, version 1.02.

Short of it, it works... the reading part, anyway. I have not tested the writing part yet. CDs and DVDs work, but I have no Blu-Ray data disc, but do have a few Playstation 3 discs. Unsurprisingly, those BDs aren't recognized by the player... a bit of a good sign.

It also tripped my USB 3.0 controller on my laptop, and seems borked since. I would have to reboot it after the data integrity check on the MediaDrive is finished.