MacOS – Can someone point me to resources to reverse engineer ancient Mac software

classic-mac-osmacoswebcam

I have an ancient program called "Digital Radar" (surveillance software) by Connectix. Connectix developed the original little ball webcam, and was later bought by Logitech. I've tried all of their venues of support, but have been told "We're sorry, but this product is no longer being developed. Thank you for contacting Logitech."

I have numerous videos recorded with this software that I wanted to convert, but can't determine the codec, or any other information about the files. Even "Treasured" was of no help.

While new to programing, I thought if it were possible to crack open the code to at least just find what video formats they were using, that I could get my files into a modern format.

This app broke with the advent of MacOS 9, so I'm looking for an old-timer who knows how to handle something from an 8.6 code base.

I know, it's a long-shot, but any Classic app pros have any ideas of how to revive these vids?

Best Answer

"ResEdit" was the basic utility to inspect/edit resources such as images, video, and sound in Mac OS applications and games. It runs in Mac OS or Classic environments and can be downloaded from http://www.mac.org/utilities/resedit/

"ResFork" runs on OS X 10.2 and provides similar functionality to ResEdit.

Using ResEdit or ResFork you should be able to find the codec identifier. You can then usually work from the codec identifier to a video converter. Perhaps focusing on converters from the same timeframe as the application you are working with.

If you don't have a machine that can run a Mac Classic environment, then the emulator "SheepShaver" will be useful as a debug/reverse engineer environment. SheepShaver can be downloaded from: http://sheepshaver.cebix.net/