Here’s the one thing you need to know about computer and audio/video cables: They’re cheap.

“NO!” you exclaim, perturbed by my obvious and odious lie and my use of purple prose in this paragraph.

“But I spent $75 at Best Buy on an HDMI cable, and…”

Yeah, you’re an idiot. Though it’s not your fault. You, like many before you, have been duped by the markup gods and the big box retail game.

The truth is, depending on your technological needs, you can get away with paying little to nothing for cables and wires. Here’s what I mean:

Case #1: I have a new HD flatscreen television with a cable box. I do not have surround sound or an A/V receiver to hook up

You need: One HDMI cable. It will handle audio and video.

You could get away with: One component video cable (Red/Green/Blue plugs) and a Red/White RCA audio cable.

You should spend: $0. Comcast will give you either cable for free. Ask for the HDMI cable. It’s one wire that does everything instead of five wires. HDMI also supports 1080p, whereas component video only goes to 720.

What the stores have tried to sell me: An $89 — yes $89 — Monster HDMI cable. Again, you should spend ZERO dollars for the same quality.

Case #1a: I also have a Blu-ray player.

You need: To buy an HDMI cable, because it most likely did not come with your $30 Blu-ray player.

You could get away with: Asking your cable company nicely for a second HDMI cable. They literally have piles of these things.

You should spend: No more than $5. Don’t believe me? Click here.

The stores have tried to sell me: The $89 — yes $89 — Monster HDMI cable and a $35 optical audio cable. You don’t need an optical audio cable when you’re using HDMI. Ever.

Case 2: I have a flat-screen television, a brand new A/V surround sound receiver, a cable box, and a Blu-ray player.

You need: Speaker wire, a subwoofer cable, possibly a subwoofer Y-adapter, and three HDMI cables. You run one HDMI cable from the television to the receiver and one each from the receiver to the cable box and Blu-ray player. Same with a PlayStation 3. No audio cables needed. You run speaker wire from each speaker to its corresponding port on the receiver. DO NOT buy banana plugs or any other kind of accessory for the speaker wire. It’s simply another point of potential failure. Just use the bare wire.

You can get away with: Do not use component video cables. You’ll have to buy a separate coaxial or optical audio cable for surround sound (Dolby Digital/DTS) audio. Just use HDMI.

You should spend: $5 or less per HDMI cable and no more than about $15 for the speaker wire.

The stores have tried to sell me: The $89 — yes $89 — Monster HDMI cables, $35 optical audio cables, $40 Monster speaker cable and $10 speaker cable attachments.

Case 3: I have several home networking devices, including a NAS device, home theater PC, video game consoles, and a network printer

You need: Cat 6 cables and a gigabit router with Wireless N. You can use Wi-Fi for things like Wii, room monitors/security cameras, a smart thermostat, etc. For an Xbox 360/PS3, a computer, a NAS, and anything that is storing photos, videos, or music, you should make sure it is plugged into the network directly. Just my advice. Some will say Wi-Fi is there, but I say plug it in.

You can get away with: Cat 5e cables and a gigabit router with Wireless N.

You should spend: About $100 on the router (see this story) and $2-20 on each network wire.

The stores have tried to sell me: Extremely marked up routers and $20-40 cables. Think twice.

Screw the economy; when you go to cart away that new flat panel HDTV from Best Buy, young pimple-faced Mr. or Miss Blue Shirt is going to try to load on a $200 (or higher) Monster-brand surge protector to keep your new investment safe from a whole host of devastating electrical problems.

Also in the high-priced range is the Tributaries T12 power strip, with eight rotating power receptacles and Ethernet, phone and cable protection.

It’s $120, which is too expensive for anything labeled a “power strip” that doesn’t include a uninterruptible power supply/battery backup for your gadgets. I don’t care what brand or label it falls under.

That said, it’s a damn shame the T12 costs over $100, because it’s one of the handiest power strips/surge protectors I’ve ever used.

Eight of the 12 sockets rotate 90 degrees to get whatever AC adapter you’re using out of the way of everything else. The 12 also delivers 4320 joules of surge suppression. It’s rated for 15 amps for up to 1875 watts of load — enough for several computers or your entire home theater and much more. It also offers a $25,000 warranty on plugged-in devices.

We’re basically rounding out the year with this review, because we started 2008 by introducing everyone to the Powramid — an innovative pyramid-shaped power strip.

Like the Powramid, the T12 is superior in almost all ways (except cost of course) to traditional power strips. The sockets are arranged — and move — to accommodate all of your many gadgets.

Plenty of people on the blogs have asked why you need 12 plugs. I’m a big nerd, but I don’t run a multiple display setup or keep my video game consoles on my desk. I managed to basically fill up the T12 with what I would think is a normal amount of computer junk:

• Computer
• Monitor
• Cell phone charger
• Wireless mouse charger
• External hard drive
• Cable modem
• Router
• Printer
• Computer speakers
• Digital camera charger

So it’s not the plugs that are the problem.

Price is the problem, and there are somewhat comparable products out there for less.

Just be careful. Don’t go to the dollar store and buy “Joe’s brand surge protector” and be aware of the cheap imitations of the cheap imitations with fake UL certifications.

Bottom line: you don’t absolutely need to spend $120 for a decent power strip, but if you’re spending thousands on a home theater with all the trimmings, don’t think you can get away for a $5 one either.

Underwriters Laboratories — the “UL” you see on virtually all your mechanical or electronic products — has issued warnings about two foreign-made cables, saying they bear UL-approved markings but were not actually evaluated for safety.

First, late last month, UL warned industrial contractors and distributors that a 1000-foot communications cable made by a Hangzhou Xingfa Transmission Equipment Co. Ltd. bears a counterfeit UL Mark for the United States. The communications cable has not been evaluated for safety by UL and is not eligible to bear the UL Mark.

Hangzhou Xingfa is based in Zhejiang Province, China.

The cable displays the following description: KWC RG59/U 20AWG BC (UL) CM E236949 ***FT, which is counterfeit.

Then Friday, a Taiwanese company, Ho Wah Genting Kintron, issued a recall for a standard consumer/home extension cord.

The recall affects 27,000 units of triple-plug receptacle extension cords made in 2004 and shipped all over in 2005. The problem here is that the plastic casing may not be properly secured together, and if it separates it could cause fire or a deadly shock.

The cord’s blue packaging features the description “Snug Plug” in orange lettering.

The company says to return the product where you bought it — but that was three years ago right? Throw it away and buy a new cord.

In this case also, the extension cords were labeled with counterfeit UL-listed marks and do not actually comply with UL’s safety requirements.

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. is an independent product safety certification organization that evaluates more than 19,000 types of products, components, materials and systems every year. More than 21 billion UL Marks appear on 72,000 manufacturers’ products each year in 99 countries.