Blu-ray drive - internal or external?

[Kaiju]

So I've been interested in getting a Blu-ray drive for my PC. It currently only has a DVD drive, but I want to upgrade so I can watch my Blu-rays on my PC, which is currently connected via HDMI to my plasma.

I've done minimal research but I wanted to ask you fine people who might be able to steer me in the right direction. Which should I look into purchasing? An internal drive that I could install in my PC, or an external drive? Would there be much of a difference? What do you recommend?

Also, once I eventually get the Blu-ray drive, I intend to use it only to watch my movies on my PC. Reason being, I have a couple nice studio monitors hooked up to my PC and so watching movies this way is far more appealing than the alternative. I don't own a nice home theater system, so this is the best I can do at the moment. It works for me though.

Anyway, I've looked into it and it's apparently not as easy as just getting the drive and putting in a disc and playing it, due to certain restrictions. Apparently there are a couple options for playback... modded VLC, Leawo... but for those that watch on their PC's through a Blu-ray drive, what do you use? Would like some recommendations.

Thanks to anyone willing to share their insights on the matter.