Distortion effect occurring in compressed digital video signals resulting in the image breaking up into large blocks instead of forming a coherent, high-quality image. This effect resembles an image made up of pixels that are too large. Pixelization occurs most frequently in fast moving scenes where a digital compression scheme may get “lost” and momentarily lose picture integrity. These effects can be seen in any digitally encoded video signal such as satellite signals from direct broadcast satellites, DVDs and HDTV. However, the pixelization effect is very rare and always very short-lived (lasting for a mere fraction of a second).