slow loading time

[dabud2017]

Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe, i7-3770k 3.5GHZ, 16.0 GB ram, openSUSE Leap 42.2 64-bit, KDE Plasma 5.8.3, smplayer 17.2.0-37.1-x86_64, smtube 17.1.0-15.1-x86_64,
mplayer 1.2.r37916-5.1-x86_64, mpv 0.22.0-6.1-x86_64, fibreoptic internet connection.

I have been using smtube [and smplayer] for about a year now. Great programs. Thank You to all creators of these softwares.

Since version smtube 17.1.0-15.1-x86_64, I have been having some trouble. The trouble is that when I start smtube it is very slow to load the search page. It takes about 30 seconds to load, first the white window, next the blue tabs, etc. Once the window loads and I do a search it does not take overly long to complete the search.
I know this is a board for smtube, but it also seems to be affecting smplayer in that it is also slow to load videos that I search for and select in smtube, again 20 to 30 seconds before it plays. This may not sound like a long time, but I know the prior versions that I have used did not take that long. I am wondering if I have something set up wrong. smplayer does not take a long time to start local files/video.

Is there a log file that will tell me what is happening in a play by play fashion that would help figure this out?
Could it be something with mplayer or mpv?
When I try to use mplayer as the designated multimedia engine It says it doesn't recognize the version of mplayer I am using and asks me to select the version I am using. When I select the version I am using it starts to play the video. I see that I am using version 1.2.r3, [latest is 1.3] which is older, but it is the only version that is available to me [from the packman repo - YAST software management] that I can see.

Things that are different on this end: upgraded to new openSuse 42.2 from 42.1. Newest versions of smtube and smplayer.

[rvm]

The smplayer log includes the time, so you can see there where the delay happens.

[dabud2017]

Could it be that Because I am running mplayer ver. 1.2 rc..., when ver 1.3 rc is available, this might be the reason smplayer is slow to load?
It would not account for the problem with smtube, I think.
Comments welcome.

[rvm]