Loose HDMI Connection

I have a family member with a 37" Panasonic consumer plasma with a couple of HDMI connections. As the plasma warms up the HDMI cable eventually works itself loose and the signal is lost. I've looked at "port savers" however they look like they are nothing more than short cables. The cables themselves are not particularly heavy either.

Has anybody found a way to keep the male HDMI connection firmly in the female HDMI connection?

I am going to feel like Dr. Ruth answering this...
I have a similar problem but in my case is the shear weight of the cable that makes it pull out of the back of my Oppo DVD player. My solution may not be the prettiest but it works. What I did was to "bundle" the HDMI cable with other cables on the back of the player that have firmer connections.

I am not familiar with your television but you could do something like plugging something to the VGA plug (even if it doesn't go anywhere), which can be screwed down tightly, then zip-tie that cable and the HDMI cable together. If your HDMI cable has some firmness to it, this setup should at least keep it pointed in the right direction even if its loose. If you don't have a plug that can be screwed down, just pick whatever is nearby that you know can provide the additional support.

Like I said, not pretty, but I hope it helps.

Garcianc2003's pinned down the underlying problem: weight. The "port savers" that I've seen are exactly what you describe: short cables, just long enough that they can be connected to a component and have the other end lay on a shelf, such that the only weight on the connector is the connector itself and a few inches of cable. For a component sitting on a shelf, it's a good solution. For a plasma, it may not work as well, as I'm guessing that the ports are oriented vertically instead of horizontally (exascerbating the weight issue a lot) and probably too far from a shelf for the port savers to rest on anything.

There's one company making cables that include a locking clip, but they're pricey and you have to replace a screw at each connector to provide a connection point. I'd probably look to doing something like what garcianc2003 describes: wire-tie the cables to a fixed point. If the plasma is wall-mounted, you could strap the cables to the mounting arm and leave a little slack between there and the plug. If it is stand-mounted, the stand could be a good attachment point.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I did try zip tying the HDMI cable to a set of component cables but in Panasonic's infinite wisdom the HDMI ports and the other connections are some distance apart and it still worked loose. It worked loose less often, but it still lost signal. And yes, the ports on the Panasonic are vertically orientated!

Hopefully, removing the cable's weight off the connection will solve this problem. I think I'll look for a screw or other connection point above the HDMI ports and create a support for the cable.

When all else fails there is always duct tape! LOL

Sorry to hear about the HDMI plug loosening and losing the signal. That's never happened with my 42" Panasonic. The jack is on a vertical panel on the back, so the plug goes in horizontally. Is it different with the 37"?

It sounds like you're on the right track. If you can get the weight of the cable off of the connector somehow (either by shifting it to a support or by shifting it to another cable), the plug should be able to support its own weight and stay in place.

This is a problem can is only going to happen more and more as LCD and plasma displays spread and HDMI sources join them. Manufacturers understandably don't want to use the same horizontal orientation found on the back of source components for these flat panel displays, but I think a display manufacturer could make a lot of consumers very happy if they took that vertical orientation, rotated it 90 degrees, and provided a built-in velcro strap or even just a simple support peg a few inches away to take the weight of the cable off of the connection. The combination would make it much easier to keep HDMI cables connected, and the cost would be very small. Heck, the support peg would potentially be free - it could double as a sprue point for the plastic mold if they worked it right.

Yes psyprof1, the ports are orientated vertically on the back of the 37" Panasonic. Odd isn't it? Gonk, I may try to rig a support using some velcro to get the weight off the port. However, I still think the port is expanding with temperature. The cable works itself loose after the TV has been on for an hour or so. My Dad really likes his system (includes an LFM-2!!) except he gets pretty frustrated to have to get up in the middle of a movie to push the HDMI cable back in. I hope a cable support will solve both potential reasons the connection is lost. I appreciate everyone making suggestions to fix the problem.

I'm looking for a new plasma and some have the HDMI ports aimed down! You'd have to support the cable in that case because the HDMI connection is so loose. Something to think about when making such a big purchase...

My dad's 26" Panasonic LCD has an HDMI port that is oriented the same way as your dad's, AvFan. UMtiger has a Panasonic plasma that has ports laid out similar to psyprof1's - and that plasma has a support bracket for the power cord that is similar to what I was talking about in my post yesterday, in the form of a clip.

If you could establish a support that carried the weight of the cable and kept upward pressure on the cable, that would work even if the jack is expanding. I suspect, though, that even without that the upward pressure, simply taking the cable weight off the jack will solve the problem.