This paper details some of the practical design considerations in employing injection laser diodes and avalanch photodiodes in the transmission of video signals through fiber optic cable. Specific attention is given to the noise properties associated with these devices (including laser noise, modal noise and noise due to coupling effects) and how it relates to system performance. The effect of laser diode nonlinearities on noise and bandwidth is also discussed. A three channel FDM-FM prototype system is presented and its measured performance is related to the optical devices employed.