How do I read a 3d seg-y file?

Hi,

Sorry about the newbie question. I am a programmer with no proior geophysical experience. My father is a retired geophysicist. I am trying to help him open a 3d seg-y file.

I've tried some free apps, with variable success:

1) Seismic Unix, - it's my understanding that it does not really support 3d all that much.

2) SeiSee - a gui app that does allow me to see headers and traces. Most headers are garbled, and I don't know whether they are garbled because they are supposed to be (my reading suggests this might be the case) or because SeiSee reads it as Little Endian EBCDIC, for instance. Could not find a way to change that in SeiSee.

3) Madagascar - working it now, but it seems that I will need to specify criteria by which to turn a bunch of traces into a 2-dimensional array of traces (is an array of traces called line or reel? and what's the difference between line and reel?) In any case, I don't know how to split my data into lines, because my headers are just too garbled to make any sense at all.

I've also found from the seg-y header that this file has been exported by SeisWare. So I am in the process of talking to SeisWare trying to get a free trial. However, since their costs are astronomical for someone who just wants to open a file, I am trying to find an alternative way of doing it. Is there a way? Would appreciate any suggestion.

Have a go at OpenDtect.
It's free and has some great functiobality