I'm far from being an expert, but when the headers are not immediately
obvious to me I look at the information to see what the headers are
probably referring to. Whether it's a baptism, marriage or burial
record, you should have a pretty good idea of what information was
being recorded (e.g., name, dates, parents' names, places of
residence, godparents/sponsors, witnesses, etc.). I then open up a
German dictionary or look around online to try and figure out the
words.
Have you tried scanning the headers so that they might be easier to make out?
And from what I've seen during the last couple of years, you're right
about differing formats. The Catholics and Lutherans did things
differently and even some within the same religion differed. The core
information is the same, but it seems like it was up to the local
church as to what was recorded.
Dave