David
I've placed emitters inside components hundreds, if not thousnds of times and have NEVER had any interference issues.

As for the procedure, some pieces have existing 'slots' that the emitter will fit thru, others will need a small hole.
Placement is the trial and error part.
Sometimes it has to be located almost directly over the IR reciever(probably your VCR), other times, just placing inside the case anywhere works(mostly sat recievers).

At any rate, your problems will be solved, your equipment won't have silly looking 'things' stuck to the front ( that WILL fall off), and you won't have a bunch of wires cluttering up the front of your otherwise attractive installation.

While this may require a little more time on your part, its really the only way to go if you want a bullet proof set up that works every time and doesn't look like the stuff I rigged up when I was in High school!

Mike.