However , in Asia and in other developing countries the VCD is popular , since a DVD player is also much more expensive than a VCD player . The VCD format was very popular throughout Asia ( except Japan and South Korea ) in the late 1990s through the 2000s , with 8 million VCD players sold in China in 1997 alone , and more than half of all Chinese households owning at least one VCD player by 2005 .