Ok,
Heard back from the folks at SlySoft... If I use CloneDVDmobile to convert directly from the DVD to the DivX file on the hard drive - all works fine!

I can still play the .vob (raw) files with other players if I use AnyDVD to rip the disk to my HDD.

Well, since I hadn't seen a post in response to my question here, but got my answer, I thought I'd post it in case someone else runs into the same issue...