The TMS320C8x is a family of multimedia video processor (MVP) chip that was introduced in 1994 by Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...

. The family includes the TMS320C80 and a scaled down version, the TMS320C82. This is one of the first single-chip processors that integrated MPEG-1

MPEG-1

MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.Today, MPEG-1 has become...

 encoding. The TMS320C80 includes four advanced integer digital signal processor

Digital signal processor

A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...

 and a RISC technology floating-point processor that is IEEE 754 compatible. The data transfer rate is up to 1.8 Gb

GB

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/s for instructions and 2.4 Gb/s for data.

Applications of these multi-core processor chips include 3D graphics and image processing, digital compression and playback of audio and video feeds, encryption and decryption in real time, and telecommunications. An MVP chip could replace several different components due to integration of multiple processors. In 1997, Texas Instruments released a software emulator for the TMS320C8x.