The invention discloses a manual hydraulic elevation cable pay-off unit comprising a cable reel support and a rotating shaft fixedly connected with a cable reel. The cable reel support comprises a left support and a right support. Two ends of the rotating shaft are placed on the left and right supports respectively. The left and right supports are lifting cylinders communicated through an oil pipe. One lifting cylinder is communicated with a manual hydraulic jack. The rotating shaft is connected with a reduction case through a transmission mechanism. The reduction case is connected with a motor. A control circuit in the motor is provided with an infrared receiver. An infrared remote control is used with the infrared receiver. The infrared remote control controls the motor to rotate trough the infrared receiver. Compared to the prior art, the manual hydraulic elevation cable pay-off unit has the advantages that manually raising or lowering a heavy cable reel is not required, the pay-off reel is controlled through the infrared remote control to rotate or stop, operations by specially-assigned persons are not required, labor intensity is greatly reduced, and labor efficiency is improved.